


When you love the stars... [Coffee Shop AU]

by CaptainGlitch



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, Glimmadora Week 2018, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2019-11-07 09:50:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 42,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17958233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainGlitch/pseuds/CaptainGlitch
Summary: The Coffee Shop AU nobody asked for.Glimmer can’t stop herself from fighting the customers at every chance she gets, so of course she gets stuck with the absolute worst shift ever. The boring closing shift. It’s not all bad though, at least that cute blond girl keeps dropping by, even if she always comes with that very annoying Catra-girl...





	1. Side A - I can’t reach the stars. (Glimmer & Bow)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started writing this I felt like this AU had no right to be pretentious, but then my sister told me "Coffee Shops are pretentious anyways, so why pretend an AU based around that isn't inherently pretentious?" ...so basically this might be unapologetically pretentious... sorry in advance.  
> Cramming so many ideas into this story was a nightmare and I enjoyed every second of it. Also I tried to use all the prompts from the 2018 glimmadora week.  
> So...this might be a bit long so be sure to have some snacks, a drink and some time to spare before buckling up for this ride.  
> Enjoy!!

“I told you it was a bad idea.”

Glimmer looks away from her friend and keeps picking at the bandage covering her left fist. It was just a matter of time before Bow decided to point that out. If anything Glimmer is surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

“Of course you did.”

“My exact words were ‘this idea sucks and it’s so _not_ worth it’. I understand you wanted to help Madam Razz, but that totally wasn’t the way to help... like, _at all._ ”

“Bow! Would you quit it?” Glimmer hits the counter with her open palms and her words come out in a hiss. She’s probably too proud to even wince when the motion makes her left hand sting a bit.

“Sorry, I’m just glad the worst thing that came out of this stupid fight was a small wound in your hand and your mom grounding you.”

“She didn’t just ‘ground’ me... she took away my spark! ...my joy!” She stretches out her arms and clutches the air for something that isn’t there. “...the only things left that gave my life meaning!” After speaking, Glimmer lets her upper body slump against the counter once more.

“She took neither of those things; you’re still Glimmer, strong, brave, amazing Glimmer.” Bow knows Glimmer just wants to mope for some time and after that she’ll be back to her chipper mood, but that doesn’t stop him for giving her his full support from the start.

“Uggghhh, sorry that I’m such a downer, I really appreciate what you’re trying to do, I just... ughhhh.”

“You can be dramatic and wail all you want because your mom grounded you and took away your phone and your Vespa,” while speaking he pats Glimmer in the back, “I just don’t want you getting too wrapped up in your own drama,” he adds lowering his voice.

Glimmer answers with a non-committal hum.

Bow knows better than to push Glimmer while she feels unmotivated. So he walks away and distracts himself by making sure the tables are clean and the chairs are in its place. Closing time is approaching and maybe they can go home early today.

The sound of the door opening and steps walking in dashes those hopes, though.

Glimmer raises her head just in time to see a girl with brown hair pushing the door open and waltzing inside the café with hands on her pockets and an air of arrogance and ownership in every step. She doesn’t remove her sunglasses even if there’s _no_ need for them when there’s not even sun _outside_. Glimmer decides she doesn’t like her already.

“Hey, is this place still open?”

She’s followed closely by a slightly taller girl that Glimmer barely pays attention to.

“We close at 11 PM.” Glimmer replies and she can’t keep the boring tone out of her voice.

The shorter girl makes a show of taking out her phone and checking the hour.

“10:43,” she reads out loud. “Guess we’re still on time, I’ll have a skinny latte,” after addressing Glimmer, she turns towards her companion. “Do you want anything?”

The girl shakes her head, her pony tail swinging from side to side with the motion.

“Suit yourself, you nerd,” the girl sounds very annoyed and it’s somehow annoying Glimmer too. Before Glimmer has the chance to allow her temper to get the best of her, Bow is already giving the girl her latte and receiving the pay.

They walk away and take a seat in one of the tables in the middle of the café while keeping their conversation.

“Glimmer, you’re already grounded, don’t make it worse by picking another fight,” Bow warns in a whisper while cleaning the counter.

“Bow, can we _not_ start this conversation while there are _people here_?” Glimmer does her best to whisper back but the annoyance makes her raise her voice.

She sends a quick glance towards the other people in the room, but the girls seem to be distracted with their own conversation.

The shorter one is sitting sideways in the chair, it honestly doesn’t look like she knows how to sit like a normal person. Her legs are over the armrest, one of her arms is over the back of the chair and her other hand is holding her coffee. The other girl is hunched on the chair in front, whispering things and playing with her hands.

It must be a pretty amusing conversation because the shorter girl can’t stop laughing at something while her companion looks away and covers her face with her hands.

They seem to be very engrossed in their conversation and normally Glimmer wouldn’t mind waiting for them to leave on their own accord (yes, it’s ANNOYING, but Glimmer is learning to let it go). But not today, no. Today she can’t have the luxury of closing the shop too late. She doesn’t have her trusty scooter to take her and Bow home so they have to actually close the café soon and rush to catch the last bus if they don’t want to walk all the way back home.

“Hey, so, uh, it’s 10:56, you know?” Glimmer points out as casually as she can to the unsuspecting customers.

“Oh I know what time it is, I have a clock.” After talking, the short girl pulls her phone out of her pocket and dangles it from side to side in Glimmer's face. If Glimmer felt bad before for interrupting their conversation she already got over it.

Glimmer can feel her blood boil. She hasn’t fought a customer in months and she promised her mom she wouldn’t do it _ever_ again, but she can already feel herself breaking that promise. That is until...

“Catra, it _is_ pretty late, maybe we should really go.”

That comment takes Glimmer aback and she uses the next seconds to actually look at the girl talking. She has nice blonde hair, and soft blue eyes, and her big shoulders are hunched, making her look apologetic. Her whole image makes Glimmer feel warm.

There’s also a band-aid over her nose, and those kinds of things would make any other person look a bit tough, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to work that way with this soft spoken girl.

Catra slowly looks back at her companion with an unamused expression. But upon seeing the pleading look on the girl’s face she decides to give in.

“Ugh, you’re such a people pleaser, fiiiiine!”

She stands up so quickly her chair falls backwards. Without even bothering to lift it or throw away her empty disposable cup, she leaves the coffee shop.

“Catra, wait!” Her companion scrambles to place the chair upright and throw the cup in the trash, but before leaving the shop she spares a glance towards Glimmer and smiles apologetically.

Several seconds go by and Glimmer finds herself unable to move from her spot or stop thinking about that shy smile that could light up a room.

“Sooooo... what was that about?” Bow’s voice breaks through the trance and it startles Glimmer so much she almost falls back.

“Wha...?! W-what are you talking about?”

But Bow doesn’t graces that question with an answer, he just smiles knowingly.

“Shut up and hurry, we have a bus to catch.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

 

* * *

 

Her second encounter with the girl comes faster than expected.

It has been just one day since then, and Glimmer hasn’t had time to think how she feels about the blonde girl with a nice smile when the girl is already walking into the shop.

This time she isn’t together with that other annoying girl (Catra?).

Glimmer notes her outfit is some loose jogging pants, an oversized T-shirt, with the sleeves rolled up and running shoes. It’s nothing fancy but it still dazzles Glimmer a bit. She looks so cool and collected with her worn-out backpack hanging from her shoulder and one hand on her pocket. She still has a band-aid over her nose but this time the color seems different from the one she had last time.

Her hair looks a bit mussed but still kept tidy in a ponytail... Glimmer decides to look away before someone finds out she has been staring at one customer for one second too many.

It’s a good call cause out of the corner of her eye she notices the girl already walking towards her.

“Hey there!” Glimmer greets once the girl reaches the counter and she manages to keep her voice level despite her mind going haywire because _‘Oh crap, this girl is so cute and I’ve only seen her once but I can’t stop thinking about her already’._

“Uh... Hi!” The girl runs a hand through her hair and looks down. Glimmer can’t help but bite her lip to hold in a whimper. Dammit, is this girl actively trying to raise Glimmer’s blood pressure? Because everything she has done so far is making Glimmer’s heart beat faster.

“Wanna order something?” She manages to ask before her mind gets lost in the cute girl in front of her.

“O-oh, yeah, sure, I’ll, uh, I’ll have a skinny latte.”

“Your name?” Glimmer does her best to not sound anxious when she asks. Because she has her own name in a tag pinned to her apron but this girl doesn’t and it’s frankly unfair that Glimmer has no easy access to the girl’s name.

“Sorry? I didn’t catch that.”

So Glimmer repeats herself, and this time she does her best to articulate every word and raise her voice a bit more.

“I asked your name? So I can call _your name_ when your order is ready?”

“Oh! Right! Yeah! It’s Adora.”

Glimmer looks down as she scribbles the name on the cup an resists the incredibly juvenile urge to scribble a heart next to it.

Adora pays for the drink and Glimmer knows it’s stupid, but she cannot help the tinge of disappointment when their hands don’t touch while the money exchange takes place.

“Take a seat please; I’ll call you when your drink is ready.”

Adora nods and turns around to take a seat in one of the low tables with sofas.

Preparing a skinny latte is not even a challenge; Glimmer has prepared tons of those lots of times before. So it makes her unreasonably angry when she keeps spilling the drink at every attempt to prepare it.

Looking back at Adora is the worst (or actually best?) idea Glimmer has had; because Adora is looking at her reflection in the window pane and doing finger guns.

It’s ridiculous how useless Glimmer becomes after witnessing such a blinding display of cuteness.

“Bow, can you make this drink for me, I legitimately can’t even fucking pour any liquid right now, I already dropped the coffee like five times.”

Bow doesn’t need the explanation, one look at Glimmer’s flushed cheeks and distressed expression is enough explanation.

“I... uh, sure.” He takes the hot coffee pitcher from Glimmer’s hands and carefully starts preparing the drink. The coffee is steaming hot... is Glimmer ok? Didn’t she get a bit burnt? The girl is staring intensely at Bow’s hands preparing the beverage and it’s honestly making him a bit nervous.

“While I take care of this, would you mind bringing a couple of coffee sacks from the back of the store?”

Manual labor is far easier and helps Glimmer spend some of the nervous energy that is filling her body.

“No problem,” she replies with a very tense smile and she walks stiffly towards the back of the shop, some of the coffee burns in her hands are starting to sting so she better puts some ointment on them too.

When Glimmer is done with the heavy lifting she comes back to the counter to see Adora already going back to her table with her coffee in hand.

The girl places the cup in front of her with care that a stupid disposable coffee cup doesn’t deserve. After getting comfortable, she digs through her backpack until she finds what she’s looking for. It looks like a magazine, but upon closer inspection Glimmer concludes it’s a comic; a Wonder Woman comic, at that.

She smiles like she can’t contain the happiness and she looks like she’s actually enjoying the read; Glimmer wants to crush her in a hug.

Some minutes later, Catra arrives and makes a beeline towards Adora and the way they fall into a familiar rhythm in their interactions tugs something inside Glimmer.

She barely knows Adora, but she wants to get to know her better, she wants to talk with her, and laugh with her.

But it’s a weird thought so she distracts herself cleaning tables and preparing drinks with edible glitter (like you do).

It’s just a matter of time before Bow notices Glimmer is a bit anxious and starts dutifully talking to her. Glimmer feels a bit bummed out for her inability to hide when she’s upset from Bow. But she lets it go instantly when Bow points at one of the pastries Glimmer has been attempting to decorate.

“Sooo, what do we have here? ...A rising star or a disco ball?”

“That was just _once_ , Bow!” She pretends to be annoyed but she laughs anyway, so she punches him softly in the arm to compliment her words.

“Glimmer, master of glitter, can make everything sparkle!”

“C’mon Bow, you agreed you wouldn’t call me that in places where other people may hear,” she complains but Bow’s words make her smile regardless and it manages to help her relax a bit.

It’s still not enough to divert Glimmer’s attention from Adora when she stands up to leave with Catra. Glimmer doesn’t intend to, but she stares (and she hates how much she doesn’t regret it).

Once she’s leaving, Adora takes her time to look back towards Glimmer with a beaming smile and wave her hand. It’s just a small, timid gesture but it manages to make Glimmer’s heart beat faster. Is Adora doing it on purpose?

 

* * *

 

It has been a week and three days —not that Glimmer is counting (but she actually _is_ counting)— since Adora first came to the coffee shop and every day Glimmer is expecting the moment the girl walks through the door. It’s honestly the highlight of her day.  And on Sunday when the shop doesn’t open, Glimmer is just thinking about how much she wants to see Adora... Adora with her golden smile and shy hand waves...

Just the idea of getting to work and see the girl is usually enough to make her smile, but not today. Today she isn’t in the greatest of moods.

Some idiot students from Horde Academy have been vandalizing the café and nobody bats an eyelash because Horde Academy has deals with powerful people and somehow it makes it okay to overlook whatever transgression the idiots studying there decide to do.

It makes Glimmer’s blood boil, it would be so easy to just kick their butts or teach them a lesson... a violent lesson. But of course Glimmer’s mom is completely against the plan and insists on using _diplomacy._

Glimmer wants to know what’s not diplomatic about the conversation between her fist and some bully’s face.

It’s not like she hasn’t punched Horde assholes in their entitled faces before, but of course her mom always makes sure to punish her accordingly to make sure Glimmer feels discouraged to do it again.

It kind of works cause Glimmer now thinks twice before doing it but it mostly just makes her boil in her own anger for hours.

She just got her cellphone and scooter back from her last punishment and she’s really not feeling up to lose them again.

“Glimmer, can you help me bring some gallons of milk from the back?”

“We still got milk,” Glimmer replies with misdirected annoyance, pointing at a big bottle resting in the table behind her.

“Glimmer, please! Light milk is not the same as lactose-free milk!”

The girl shrugs.

“It’s still milk!”

“Yeah, but it makes a difference, we don’t know if this light milk is also lactose-free; there’s a chance lactose intolerant people will get sick with this milk,” Bow explains meticulously. Usually that doesn’t bother Glimmer in the least, but today is not one of those usual days.

“It’s a low chance.”

“It’s still a risk I’m not taking!” Bow walks away carrying the empty gallon of lactose-free milk in his arms.

Before Bow leaves, Glimmer wants to say something but their discussion is cut short in that instant when a couple of customers enter the shop and walk up to the counter. Glimmer swears her annoyance grows ten-fold when she hears _that_ particular voice greeting her with a sickeningly sweet tone.

Regardless of how she feels, Glimmer has to turn toward the voice to face a very smug looking Catra and an oblivious Adora.

“I’ll have a skinny latte, please.” Catra is wearing shades... at night, in a place where there’s literally no need to wear shades... _once again._

It might be because Glimmer is already pretty pissed but she feels like she could really murder Catra right now.

“And I’ll take a slice of chocolate cake... please.” Adora most likely cannot sense any of the anger that is almost emanating from Glimmer.

Glimmer nods and starts to mechanically type the orders in the cash register.

“I have a _rrreward_ card, by the way.” Making an extra and unnecessary emphasis on the ‘r’, Catra waves the card in front of Glimmer’s face.

Glimmer just snatches the card and slides it through the card reader with a bit too much strength.

“Were did you get a reward card?” Adora asks Catra.

“It’s not mine, it’s Scorpia’s.”

They both pay for their orders and after Glimmer gives Adora her cake they both take a seat in a table by the corner next to a window.

Suddenly, Glimmer is trapped in such a weird mood between wanting to kill Catra and wanting to thank her for bringing Adora here as well.

Bow isn’t around to stop her, so even if she doesn’t try to add anything poisonous to Catra’s latte she decides to do something petty every tired barista has done in their lives whenever one particular customer is annoying.

“A skinny latte for _Gatia_.”

There’s a flash of annoyance in Catra’s face but she recovers quickly.

She takes her drink and lowers her sun glasses looking at Glimmer’s name tag.

“Thank you, Gloria,” she finally says without even stuttering and starts walking towards the entrance of the coffee shop.

That’s it. Glimmer is already thinking of how she’ll apologize to her mom for not only hitting someone _this time_ but also murdering them. But once Glimmer walks around the counter she finds herself face to face with Adora.

She’s hunched a bit and in her hands she’s holding with so much care a napkin with her unfinished slice of cake. The sight just makes all the anger in Glimmer evaporate and get replaced with warm feelings she can’t really describe.

“I’m...uh, sorry about that,” Adora mumbles and even when she’s tall and kinda imposing she looks so meek and gentle.

Glimmer feels her throat dry. She swallows noisily before nodding; any thought about Catra effectively thrown out of her mind.

“Yeah, no problem,” she manages to say coolly and that earns her a smile from the girl.

“Thanks.” Adora turns around and walks some steps away then freezes in her tracks. She starts rummaging through her pockets and after turning around and walking back to the counter drops several coins into the tip jar.

She offers another shy smile before walking away. Just like so many nights before, once she’s at the door she looks back and waves at Glimmer. Glimmer waves back and after that, the girl exits the place.

It takes Glimmer almost a minute to notice she hasn’t moved from her spot and her eyes are still glued to the door.

 

* * *

 

The girl, Adora, is quickly becoming a regular and Glimmer is not sure if she hates it or loves it. Adora certainly makes Glimmer smile and she can’t deny the fondness she’s quickly developing for her, but why does Adora always have to come with that insufferable Catra-girl??

“Hey, Glinda—”

“Glimmer.”

“—my skinny latte isn’t skinny enough,” Catra finishes her sentence completely disregarding Glimmers correction.

“You always order a latte, how about you order another drink? My treat, of course!” Adora offers. She’s playing with her hands so it’s kind of hard to not notice her scrapped knuckles.

She always acts so bashful, but when she comes to the café with her clothes all mussed up, Glimmer can’t help but wonder about the aggressive side that might be hiding somewhere inside Adora.

“I don’t want anything else, let’s just leave,” Catra replies with tiredness. Adora follows without complain.

Of course she doesn’t think Adora might be hurting anyone, she’s more worried about someone trying to hurt Adora. Even when she’s a lot taller than Glimmer, Glimmer kind of has this impulse to protect her. She makes a mental note to bring with her a small first aid kit with her just in case.

Stopping at the door, Adora turns towards Glimmer and waves her hand; Glimmer can only wave back before Adora leaves. There's a glimpse of the girl walking behind the glass doors and then she’s gone. Glimmer thinks abou how she wants to get close but there’s no easy way to do it.

It’s not like she can ask Adora about her life or her injuries; there’s no way to bring up that kind of thing in the short, strictly professional interactions they share, but Glimmer wants to find a way to ask about it, if only to learn more about the girl.

No matter how polite Adora acts, she still doesn’t seem that approachable, and even if Glimmer wishes they could talk more, she isn’t the best when it comes to befriend people.

Bow thinks Glimmer is just being ridiculous and overthinking, so he offers to talk to Adora, if anything just to prove how easy it is to talk to the girl.

He just needs a chance to talk to her while Catra is not around so that he doesn’t come across as nosy.

 

* * *

 

The time comes one day when Bow notices Adora sitting by herself in a table. Catra is nowhere to be found even if he could swear she did come with Adora that day.

“Your friend left early today?” He asks casually, getting close to Adora while pretending to be cleaning the table next to the girl.

“She’s outside waiting for me, I get the feeling that she doesn’t enjoy coming here as much as I do,” she sounds resigned as she plays around with a fork in front of her.

Bow shrugs, he’s about to change the topic of conversation when the girl accidentally drops the fork.

Before he notices Adora leaning, he leans down as well and by mere miracle he avoids hitting her in the forehead. They both grab the fork at the same time and their gazes intersect.

Being this close to Adora, Bow can see her face completely and notice all of her features, and suddenly something in him clicks.

He gets flashbacks from some weeks ago... Glimmer and the girl she fought with (Angela was so mad she took Glimmer’s phone and her scooter), and Bow can’t stop himself from announcing loudly his realization.

“Oh my gadgets! It’s her, you’re _her_!”

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“The girl that Glimmer sucker punched in the face, it’s you, isn’t it?!” Bow’s voice cracks as he stage whispers. “Glimmer didn’t see you up close, but I did!”

All the color drains from her face and she scrambles to shove her things in her backpack —the zipper is busted so she can’t close it— before swinging it on her back and then tries to stand up, but Bow stands just in front of her chair blocking the way.

“Do you wanna hurt Glimmer? Are you stalking her?”

“No, no, it’s none of that I swear!” She hunches in the chair while Bow leans closer to her.

“What are you even doing here?”

“I-I can explain, but please, _please,_ don’t tell Gli—”

“Bow!” Glimmer’s voice cuts through the discussion.

Adora’s face is still a bit too pale and it allows Bow to notice the blush spreading through her cheeks. Her eyes sparkle once she sees Glimmer, but it’s only for a second because she looks away immediately afterwards.

There’s this fraction of second where realization hits Bow like a truck and his whole mind goes into overdrive with the information he just found out.

“Bow, even if we don’t have a lot of customers that doesn’t mean you get to scream so much, why are you making such a ruckus?”

Glimmer appears to be a bit annoyed but when Bow spares a glance at Adora, she’s looking at Glimmer with that same sparkle in her eye; his theory just becomes a bit more tangible.

In that instant he decides to trust the girl, if only because he can sense something interesting is going on.

“I’m sorry, I just... uh... doesn’t she look exactly like she could be He-Man’s twin sister?” Bow decides to say and his ad-libbing takes even him by surprise.

Glimmer takes some seconds to examine Bow’s face and decide if he’s serious or just joking around.

“I’m not... I mean I don’t...” Glimmer sighs and her shoulders slump. “This is so dumb, I have to finish cleaning the mugs.” And without another word she walks behind the counter and returns to the kitchen.

Suddenly Bow is grinning and leaning towards Adora once more.

“Come here tomorrow at 5 PM, Glimmer’s shift doesn’t start until 6 so we can talk then without having Glimmer around.”

The girl nods shakily and waits until Bow moves back to stand up. She is halfway through leaving the café when Bow catches her and whispers something in her ear.

“If you actually want to hurt Glimmer please don’t bother coming back, or I’ll make sure you regret it.”

Adora doesn’t even look back, she almost runs towards Catra’s car and Bow feels just a bit guilty for making Adora flee. He hopes the girl actually comes back because Glimmer really likes Adora a lot and it would be a shame to _clip_ Glimmer’s _wings_ before the relationship even has a chance to start.

Suddenly he remembers his stupid excuse and he can’t help but let out a laugh.

 _He-Man’s twin sister?_ That’s probably the stupidest excuse he has ever said.

Some hours later, he has to reassure Glimmer that his methods to talk to Adora _are_ working and no, refering to Adora as He-Man's twin sister wasn't a sneaky attempt to tease or embarass Glimmer by giving her weird thoughts of Adora showing off her muscles and swinging a sword while wearing fur underwear (Bow thinks it might be telling just how specific is the mental image Glimmer got, though).

 

* * *

 

The next day, the conversation with Adora goes nicely. She doesn’t need a lot of prodding before she’s already confessing she’s kinda in love with Glimmer and Bow promises to help out where needed.

Bow is so excited he almost confesses that Glimmer is kinda in love with Adora as well. But he holds back. He wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise. He just needs to give the idiots a little push and everything will come together afterwards.

He also tries to give Adora some tips on how to talk to Glimmer. He doesn’t know what Adora thinks of him now but after talking with her for minutes he can’t help but think of Adora as a friend. He’s already rooting for her so much...

Because Adora might be from the Horde, but she’s not really like the image people have of Horde students. And maybe this is the thing Glimmer needs to start letting go of her grudge against the Horde.

Maybe this can give her the closure she desperately needs before she drives herself mad with resentment against a group of people that don’t even know she exists.

 

* * *

 

To Bow’s surprise, Adora is quick to take the straightforward path and the next day she is already bringing Glimmer a little note she wrote and Glimmer... she doesn’t even wait. She reads the note the moment Adora shoves it in her hands.

>         Glimmer  
>  I hope this isn’t weird or creepy, I don’t want to be that kind of person.  
>  I want you to know I have a crush on you and I don’t wanna fight it, don’t know if I can. I want to get to know you better. If you’re ok with it, that is.  
>          Signed  
>          Adora

Once she finishes reading the note, she has to re-read it again, and then once more, and then just one more time for good measure.

Her eyes are starting to water a bit but she quickly wipes the tears with her hand before anyone notices.

Adora is sitting in a table next to a window, the slice of cake she just bought rests untouched. There’s no way for Glimmer to know how Adora’s feeling, she appears to be calm as she reads another Wonder Woman comic in her hands.

Glimmer doesn’t want to be brash, but she honestly knows no other way to act than being direct. She shoves the note in Bow’s chest and briskly walks towards Adora.

“I read your note.” Glimmer manages to stifle a laugh when Adora nearly jumps out of the sofa. The girl recovers quickly and nods a couple of times, quickly, while putting away her comic.

Several seconds go by in silence and Glimmer realizes her words are not the best way to start a conversation.

“Can I take a seat?”

Adora nods and sits a bit more straight in the small sofa.

Instead of sitting in front of her, Glimmer sits next to her, her shoulder grazing Adora’s.

“Your friend is not with you today?” She asks casually, looking up at Adora.

“She didn’t want to come, she thought this whole thing was gonna be suuuper awkward.”

In the background Bow is dancing and cheering Glimmer on (“Go Glimmer! You got this, tiger!”).

“She was probably right,” Glimmer finally says through gritted teeth while mentally listing ways to kill Bow after this whole ordeal is over.

Adora laughs, then she probably thinks it might be rude to do it cause she stops and clears her throat.

“Sorry, you just...”

“It’s ok, you can laugh, I like your laugh.” And also, Glimmer is glad to see Adora relax a bit.

“And I like you... but you already know that, because... _you know_...”

It’s endearing.

“Hey, about that note...” Glimmer is not sure how to continue her sentence so she just leaves it hanging.

“No pressure obviously,” Adora says, managing to put some distance between Glimmer and her in the small sofa. “But also, if you gave me a chance I would take it,” she adds so quickly her words sound choppy, “in a heartbeat.”

And she looks so cute, Glimmer wants to throw herself into Adora’s arms, but whether the girl notices or not, she’s putting a distance between them, so Glimmer reminds herself to not be hasty.

“I’d have to be really out of my mind to not like you back at least a bit,” she says playfully and the words make Adora's eyes widen.

“Really?”

“What can I say? You’re one of the cutest girls I’ve ever met.”

Seconds after the words leave her mouth she feels regret for saying something that might push Adora away even more.

Adora looks a bit overwhelmed.

“I’m afraid I’m not really that great,” her voice sounds low and raspy, as if it takes a lot of effort to pull the honest words out. And even if Glimmer wants to reassure her and tell her that those words aren’t true, she feels the weird distance between them and she reminds herself she doesn’t know Adora as well as she wants.

“Tell you what, you come here every day and we can talk for a bit and get to know each other,” she suggests suddenly.

Adora looks like she wants to say no, she can’t even hold eye contact and bites and licks her lips every time she opens her mouth and Glimmer is real close to take back her words when...

“Sure!”

Glimmer can feel the way her cheeks hurt with the big smile that grows on her face.

 

* * *

 

So it’s settled and Adora comes the next day, and even if she’s been doing that thing for weeks this time it’s special. Glimmer wants to think there’s nothing actually special about their arrangement but it’s kind of a big deal for her cause now she doesn’t have to pretend not to notice Adora when she enters the café.

She removes her earbuds and meets Adora on the other side of the counter. Adora waves a trembling hand and her posture tenses a bit. Even her smile looks a bit too forced.

“Relax, I’m not going to bite,” Glimmer assures with a smile.

“I’ve never relaxed in my life, like ever,” Adora almost sounds smug as she says that.

“Riiiiiight, that’s cool and everything but, you know you can relax here, right?” This time Glimmer places a warm hand in Adora’s shoulder. She immediately retrieves her hand when Adora flinches almost by reflex.

“It’s more like I don’t really know how to do it...” Adora mutters while looking to the ground on the side, doing her best to avoid Glimmer’s gaze.

“Okay, how about you have a drink? It’s on me.” Glimmer is almost vibrating with anticipation of the kind of drink Adora might order.

It seems weird that after all this time coming to the café Adora has never really ordered a beverage for herself. So she waits for seconds that feel a bit too long until the girl finally talks.

Surprisingly, Adora orders something specific, and Glimmer just feels weird because the drink just... sounds familiar.

“I’ll have a cappuccino with extra cream and sugar.”

“You got it!”

Now it’s Glimmer’s turn to feel the tension. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal. She has made cappuccinos thousands of times. But this one, it feels special, like she needs to make it good or something might not go well with Adora. Like this is the first step towards getting to know the girl she has been hopelessly crushing on for weeks.

So once she’s done with the drink she looks at the brownish liquid swirl in the cup and decides to add something to make it special.

“Here you go, Adora!” Glimmer announces while handing the drink.

Adora’s hand envelops hers and Glimmer feels uncomfortable warmth reach her ears. She ends the contact before the jitters in her stomach become unbearable.

“I may or may not have gotten carried away with the preparation so... sorry,” she says trying to divert attention from her sweating hand that feels too warm for comfort right now.

“Is this... glitter?” Adora mutters with a shy smile. She seems to be very pleased with the appearance of the drink and that eases Glimmer’s agitated heart.

“Edible glitter, yes! I have a thing for adding some to food or drinks from time to time,” she explains with a bit too much glee in her voice. “When in doubt add glitter!”

Adora blinks for several seconds and as if waking up from a daydream rushes to take a sip from the drink.

Her expression morphs into a relaxed one the moment the liquid hits her mouth, as if melting her anxiousness away. Score for Glimmer, master of relaxation!

Adora’s shoulders slacken and her expression softens as she takes another sip.

Glimmer wants to prepare Adora a thousand drinks just to see that serene expression in her.

“You got glitter in your mouth,” she whispers and before she has time to stop herself her hand is already wiping the corner of Adora’s mouth with a paper napkin.

Glimmer expects Adora to tense but instead she manages to look like her brain just short-circuited. And it makes Glimmer feel self-conscious about what she just did.

The silence becomes a bit too much and Glimmer decides to change the subject. Adora takes some seconds to react but she eventually starts talking back and Glimmer has no recollection of the things they said because her head remains stuck in Adora’s hand, her cool fingers and warm palm touching her hand... or the way her lips felt through the napkin.

She knows she’s being impatient but Glimmer wants to get even closer. And she feels like Adora is still so far.

She can’t reach the stars.

 

* * *

 

It’s hard for Glimmer not to feel a connection. They actually have a lot in common. But what really makes Glimmer want to know more about Adora is this strange feeling of seeing parts of herself mirrored in the glimpses she catches of Adora’s heart.

The idea sounds corny, but it’s really the only way Glimmer has to explain the pull she experiences when Adora and her talk. The magnetism that pushes her to sit closer to Adora, to treasure every second they spend in each other’s company, to cling to every word she manages to get out of the girl...

But there’s always a gap between them, and Glimmer is not sure if she’s being hasty or impatient, but she wants to get over that invisible wall that isn’t allowing her to get as close to Adora as she wants.

The conversations they share are so enjoyable and Glimmer can already feel Adora getting comfortable.

So Glimmer can’t stop herself. She bites the bullet and invites Adora on a date.

Without missing a beat, Adora accepts and for several seconds no one says anything but then Glimmer wants to hold her hand and she has barely touched it when Adora reacts and recoils a bit, and before Glimmer can regret her impulsiveness Adora asks her a question she doesn’t really see coming.

“I know this is a bit of a weird request but, would you be ok if we go out at night?”

It isn’t a weird request, more like the way Adora asks sounds weird, but it’s not a deal breaker for Glimmer. She can do it if it is what it takes to get close to Adora. It’s not like she hasn’t snuck away before for far less important stuff.

They agree to see each other on a Sunday since the coffee shop is closed and it’s Glimmer’s day off, and after a lot of back and forth they decide to meet outside the coffee shop. Since Adora seems so nervous, Glimmer makes sure to let her know she’s got the date covered. She’s just bluffing but it doesn’t matter as long as she has a date with Adora.

And somehow Glimmer manages to keep it together for the rest of the week. But then Saturday comes and once Adora has left the café Glimmer starts to panic.

“Oh my fuck, BOW!” Glimmer is hyperventilating and probably on the verge of having a panic atack. “I’m actually going on a date... WITH ADORA!” With Glimmer’s tone, an outsider would probably assume the date is a bad thing, but Bow knows better.

He remains calm because reacting to Glimmer would only make her more anxious.

“Hey, Glimmer, it’s fine, you can do this,” he assures with firm hands on her shoulders.

And it’s that warm reassurance what makes Glimmer take deep breaths and start calming down. After several seconds where Bow can see the gears turning inside Glimmer’s head, the girl finally talks.

“Do you... want to have a sleepover at my place and perhaps help me brainstorm some ideas for the date?”

“I thought you’d never ask!” He replies and his voice becomes extremely high-pitched with his excitement. “Buuuuuuut, I was going to have brunch with my parents tomorrow so, you gotta call them and tell them I won’t be able to do it,” he adds speaking as fast as he can.

“Right, ok, fine, give me your phone,” Glimmer orders with newfound resolution to make this sleepover happen.

Bow starts dialing and once the phone is calling, he hands it to Glimmer.

“Heeeeeeey Mr. Bow’s father! It’s Glimmer!”

Even after all their years of friendship, Glimmer still sounds so stiff when talking to Bow’s parents on the phone. Bow does his best to stifle a laugh but Glimmer notices and punches him in the arm.

So Bow doesn’t bother to hold back the laugh anymore. Glimmer looks mostly annoyed while she gives the occasional short reply to whatever Bow's parents are telling her. Then she hangs up and gives the phone back to Bow.

“So, who answered the phone? Was it Pops or Dad?”

“I don’t know, I can never tell their voices apart on the phone...” Glimmer sounds extremely frustrated by that fact, but knowing how mischievous Bow’s parents can be she suspects they try to make their voices sound as similar as possible just to mess with her.

“That’s fair, so what did they say?”

“They said you can stay with me tonight but you definitely gotta have dinner with them tomorrow after your violin lessons.”

“Cool.” Bow pockets the phone. “So, are we binge-watching Sailor Moon again?”

Glimmer raises an eyebrow at him.

“ _You_ are helping _me_ brainstorm plans for a date... while we binge-watch Sailor Moon _again._ ”

Bow smiles and pumps his fist in the air.

“Best Friend Squad is having a sleepover!”

“I don’t think calling ourselves a Squad works if we’re only two people.” Bow looks a bit offended at the implication. “Besides I prefer the Glimmer Group,” Glimmer adds pushing Bow playfully.

“Nah, we’re the Best Friend Squad!”

 

* * *

 

They’re in Glimmer’s room and while Bow seems to be totally invested in the episode of Sailor Moon playing on the TV, Glimmer is too nervous pacing around the room to be paying attention to anything.

Bow and Glimmer have already decided a lot of date ideas and they’re down to the hardest part; pick an outfit.

“How about you also bring her a rose?”

Glimmer huffs. In the TV screen, Tuxedo Mask has just thrown a rose —that has somehow wedged itself into the concrete floor— making everyone halt their actions to look up at the masked man, who is now is surrounded by flower petals as he gives the monster of the week an impassioned speech about underestimating girls.

“Tuxedo Mask is lame and now I don’t want to give Adora a rose and risk looking anything like him,” Glimmer states playfully while sticking out her tongue.

“Say what you want about Tuxedo Mask, but Mamoru Chiba is hot.” Bow pauses the episode of Sailor Moon to look at Glimmer who has been having a staring contest with various articles of clothing sprawled through her bed.

“He is ok, for a dude,” Glimmer replies with dismissal.

“C’mon, Glimmer, he is the full package, he might not be the best at fighting but why would that be a problem when you are a strong girl who doesn’t even need saving? He is dreamy.”

“Makoto Kino is objectively the best character in the show but go off I guess.”

“I mean... Makoto is pretty great but you’re also biased cause you’re into tall girls in ponytails.”

While talking Bow walks towards Glimmer and stands next to her to evaluate the combinations of clothes she has chosen now. The first batch was a total failure but these combinations look promising.

“Speaking of tall girls in ponytails, how about you use this for your date with your tall girl in ponytail?” He points towards the group of clothes Glimmer has been apparently staring at for the past hour.

Glimmer tenses a bit.

They might not be the best at dressing themselves. Bow would wear a crop top in winter if given a choice and Glimmer won’t use anything with sleeves unless the situation absolutely calls for it. But they manage to give each other good clothes advice and make each other look presentable.

“I bet she’ll totally dig this look,” Bow assures noticing the hesitance in Glimmer.

“I don’t know Bow, isn’t it a bit uh... too much?” Glimmer hunches her shoulders a bit after her words.

“If _too much_ means she’ll totally stare at you, then yes, I thought that’s what you were aiming for.”

”I don’t want her to stare at me,” Glimmer mutters, blushing a bit. She did choose this clothes thinking it might make her look good, but the idea of Adora staring at her... is a bit _too much_.

“Would you rather have her staring at someone else’s date?”

“No.”

“It’s a good thing if she wants to stare at you, ok? Don’t be afraid to make her want to look at you.” The words sound so easy when Bow says them. He really helps Glimmer when her own confidence falters.

And it isn’t hard to believe Bow when Bow is the only one that always, _always_ —no exceptions—believes in her.

_I can do this._

Glimmer wouldn’t usually consider using crop-tops outside of the house, but she really wants to traverse the trench that keeps her and Adora apart and she needs confidence for that, or at least fake it till she makes it.

“All right, but I’m also wearing a flannel shirt,” she states while pulling a nice blue and pink flannel from a bunch of clothes on the floor.

Bow shrugs. What Glimmer needs most of the times is support; assurance that her ideas are not as terrible as everyone makes her think. For someone so impulsive, she can also double guess herself more often than not.

“Hey, Glimmer, when you marry Adora can I be your best man?”

 

* * *

 

When Glimmer arrives to their meeting spot, Adora is already waiting for her, leaning against a wall and looking at the floor.

Glimmer is wearing the _Bow approved_ Sailor Moon crop top, a flannel shirt and a denim jacket with star patches. She isn’t sure if she’s underdressed but even when Adora isn’t wearing anything too elegant she looks breathtaking anyway.

Polo shirts have never been something Glimmer payed much mind, but Adora looks great in one, and her backpack with the broken zipper looks specially endearing today.

She can’t even look her way without her chest hurting. It’s almost like looking at the sun.

She parks her bike just next to her and removes her helmet and looking at her directly makes her want to look away before she does something weird or rash like kissing her on the spot.

“Adora! Have you been waiting long?” She says as a greeting while looking down and pretending there’s something in the sparkly purple paint job of her scooter.

“I—no! I just got here!”

Glimmer nods and before she has the chance to say anything Adora is already talking.

“Here! For you!!” She almost yells while shoving a small bouquet in Glimmer’s face; violets, and they smell really nice.

It's small enough to fit in the scooter trunk box without gettin squeezed by the other things inside. Glimmer has nothing to give to Adora and she kind of regrets rejecting Bow’s idea of bringing Adora a rose, but still the gesture is so nice and unexpected she’s not sure what to say, so she just smiles. Filling the silence, Adora speaks again.

“I... I’ve never been on a date before, so, sorry if I just... I don’t really know what to do.” Adora looks at her shoes and hunches her shoulders, clearly tense by her confession.

But it's not like Glimmer isn't prepared for something like this. She has, like, five date plans depending on what Adora might feel like doing so she smiles at Adora.

“We don’t have to do anything in particular, but if you’re ok with it I have some things in mind.”

Adora’s shoulders visibly relax at that comment.

“Whatever you have in mind I’m sure it will be great.”

“I was thinking we could go someplace nice and eat some pastries I made for us.”

“Sounds great,” Adora nods but she seems to be captivated with the motorcycle.

After offering a helmet for Adora, Glimmer smiles and motions Adora to sit behind her on the bike. Adora sits a bit too close to Glimmer and for several seconds she has trouble breathing with Adora’s body pressed against her back.

“Cool bike,” Adora says, suddenly breaking Glimmer’s frozen state. “I used to have one, named Swift Wind but...” Adora leaves the sentence hanging and looks down.

Glimmer looks back at Adora, a raised eyebrow, clearly worried about anything that might be bothering her.

“It’s a long story, I can tell you about it on our next date.”

The mention of another date makes Glimmer’s heart skip in her chest. She needs a distraction, so without saying anything else she starts the bike and drives away. The road is mostly empty and she uses the speed and fresh wind to cool down her warm, blushing cheeks.

“So, wanna go someplace in particular?” She asks, yelling over the wind to Adora.

“Away... Far away.”

“Well, I have _prrrrobably_ enough fuel to get us to another city and back, would that be far enough?”

Adora laughs and it’s such an unrestrained sound it makes Glimmer shiver; which is actually ironic because the sound makes her feel almost uncomfortably warm.

“Would you take me to see the stars?” Adora whispers in Glimmer’s ear.

And Glimmer —no joke— has to stop the scooter on the side of the road before she accidentally drives them into a cliff.

Adora has the nerve of looking adorably confused when Glimmer climbs down her scooter and removes her helmet. Adora does the same and it’s exactly what Glimmer needs before quickly leaning forward and kissing Adora on the lips. Glimmer doesn’t even allow Adora to kiss back, she steps back and then without saying anything she’s back on the scooter speeding away.

“Where are we going?” Adora asks clinging to Glimmer.

“To the Whispering Woods, to see the stars.”

Glimmer tries to focus on the road ahead, instead of the fact that she just kissed Adora at the begging of their date.

The night sky slowly changes from dark grey to a very nice navy blue, speckled with stars. Glimmer doesn’t have to look up to know this. But she notices the change anyway when she hears Adora gasp.

It’s kinda dumb but it makes Glimmer feel proud. To know she’s already surprising Adora during their first date (her own first _real_ date ever too, the ones set up by her mother, or aunt Casta or Bow don’t count).

The sound of the city becomes muted by the sound of crickets and wind whistling through the trees.

Glimmer quickly finds the clearing. Her favorite place to stargaze is just the way she remembers it even if she hasn’t come here in a while.

Setting down a cloth in the grass, Glimmer invites Adora to sit next to her.

The girl looks happy to oblige even when her eyes seem to be glued to the sky, Adora looks so amazed, as if it’s the first time seeing stars in the sky. It might as well be.

“So, what do you think?” Glimmer asks looking up, getting immersed by the sight.

From the corner of her eye she notices Adora is now looking at her without saying anything, perhaps she’s considering her answer? So Glimmer waits while trying not to blush too much at the thought of being stared at.

After a moment Glimmer focuses on Adora and when Adora notices Glimmer staring back she quickly looks up.

The question Glimmer asked is still hanging in the air when Adora decides to answer.

“It’s like a field of stars,” she says with a sigh. It somehow makes Glimmer’s chest hurt with a feeling that is threatening to overflow.

Adora is glowing and Glimmer can’t help it, she needs to kiss her once more before the longing in her heart becomes even more painful.

She turns towards Adora and leans forward but before her lips can touch Adora’s, there are hands on her cheeks stopping her advances and in an instant she feels her heart freeze until Adora speaks.

“Let me do it,” she whispers and Glimmer is not exactly sure what Adora is asking but she stays still while Adora grabs her face with tenderness and leans forward.

The kiss is so soft and so gentle, Glimmer’s heart skips painfully in her chest every time Adora moves her lips against her own. It makes Glimmer feel bad that their first kiss was that rushed liplock in the side of the road when this kiss is so much better.

The way in which Adora carefully moves her lips against Glimmer’s makes Glimmer’s heart skip painfully in her chest. There’s so much care and fondness in the caress, her head feels light and her limbs feel boneless and tingly.

She needs to grab a hold of something before she faints or falls back and ruins the moment.

One of her hands grapples the back of Adora’s neck, her fingers playing with the soft hairs in there. Her other hand latches onto Adora’s side. The feeling of ribs and warm skin underneath the fabric of the shirt grounds Glimmer and makes her whole body feel alight with warmth.

Adora is the one that breaks the kiss, slowly, but Glimmer doesn’t allow Adora to lean back too much.

Blue eyes scan Glimmer’s face. It’s as if Adora is searching for something within Glimmer.

“I had never kissed a girl before, I had no idea it was so... nice,” Adora whispers while looking at Glimmer with so much fondness.

Glimmer feels like she’s floating and she doesn’t even process Adora’s words, she just sees Adora’s eyes and feels so overwhelmed...

“Glimmer, you’re crying.” Adora is suddenly looking very alarmed.

“What? No, I’m not!” Glimmer jolts a bit and scrambles to clean the tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Sorry, I must have been terrible at kissing, it was my first time kissing someone, so I had no idea if I was doing a good job but I’m still sorry,” Adora says with a shaky voice while she plays with her hands.

Glimmer takes her by the shoulder and halts the words with a kiss.

“You’re so sweet,” she says when she breaks the quick contact.

Adora looks at Glimmer with eyes glassy with tears.

“Now you’re crying,” Glimmer points out. But she’s hardly one to talk, when there are still tears in the corners of her own eyes.

Adora doesn’t even try to hide it. She nods with a happy smile.

“Because the girl I like likes me back.” Her voice trembles a bit and she looks away to clean her tears.

“You only realized this now?” While talking Glimmer leans a bit and helps clean the tears with a handkerchief.

“I only just realized this is not a dream,” Adora breathes while holding Glimmer’s hand to her cheek.

And Glimmer is not sure if Adora is doing all of this on purpose or if she’s just naturally this charming when she’s not acting all nervous and skittish.

She wants to say something along the lines of ‘Adora, you’re so dumb’ but if Glimmer is being fair, that same fear of _‘I might like Adora more than she likes me back’_ was eating her insides barely minutes ago. So, calling Adora dumb might be hypocritical.

Glimmer is yanked out of her thoughts by Adora’s fingers, tender and careful threading through her hair; her touch so light it makes Glimmer shiver a bit. She can’t help but lean into the touch, her shoulders slumping as a wave of sleepiness washes over her.

“Y’know, I used to have long hair, but I cut some time ago,” she mutters as a way to make conversation and keeping herself awake.

“Really? Why was that?”

“I thought it would look better, and I don't really know about that but it _is_ easier to brush and style, so I like it,” she says, her voice strained a bit to keep any weird, embarrassing noise from leaving her lips. Adora’s fingers feel really nice and she can’t help but get comfortable.

“I bet you looked really nice, but right now...” Adora leaves the sentence hanging and the way her voice lowers a bit makes Glimmer start to sweat.

Adora continues to move her fingers through Glimmer’s scalp and the caresses are so relaxing she feels herself losing the battle against the impulse to just fall asleep, but her moment of relaxation comes to a halt the moment Adora’s hand moves to her nape and plays with the soft hair there.

She can’t stop the squeak that leaves her lips or the waves of embarrassment that make her rush to say something, anything just to cover the embarrassing noise she just made.

“D-do I have something in my hair?”

“No, it’s just sparkling, just like you,” Adora replies without missing a beat, her voice breathy and awestruck.

“What?”

“Sorry, I don’t know what I’m saying, after all those kisses I think I might be brain damaged,” Adora pulls her hand away slowly, looking extremely sheepish, and Glimmer feels like slamming her head against a rock for destroying the moment.

“Oh, hey! Are you hungry?”

Without waiting for an answer, Glimmer stands up and starts rummaging through the small trunk of her scooter. She retrieves a box with baked goodies and a thermos with warm cappuccino with extra cream and sugar.

She offers Adora a cupcake and the girl takes it with too much care and gentleness.

“So, how do you eat one of these?” She asks turning the pastry around.

“You eat it like any regular cupcake!” Glimmer replies by inertia, taking a seat next to her, but then stops herself. Adora looks a bit confused. “Wait, you don’t know how to eat a cupcake?” She adds careful not to sound too surprised or amused, lest Adora feels like she’s been made fun of.

“What? No, of course I know, I know cupcakes, I see them all the time, I just, uhh... never had one to eat.”

That is somewhat sadder. The cupcakes from the café are mostly gone by the time Adora comes, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t have tried one there, but not having tried one at all sounds just wrong.

So Glimmer makes a choice in a fraction of a second. She leans towards Adora’s cupcake and takes a big bite off the top.

“That’s how you eat a cupcake,” she says through a mouthful of cupcake and thankfully not a lot of crumbs fall from her mouth.

Adora looks surprised but not angry, her confusion seems to increase as she looks between Glimmer and the bitten cupcake in her hands.

“Here! Try it!” Glimmer offers her own cupcake to Adora.

Carefully Adora takes a small bite, but an instant later her eyes grow wide and she takes a bigger, more firm bite.

Glimmer doesn’t have to wait for a verbal confirmation to know Adora likes the cupcake. Adora takes another bite and another one and so on till there’s nothing left of the pastry.

Adora looks a bit ashamed but Glimmer doesn’t give the girl any time to regret her actions because she’s giving her another cupcake.

After eating the rest of the cupcakes Glimmer brought (or more like Glimmer giving all the cupcakes to Adora) and drinking the cappuccino, a comfortable silence settles between them.

Glimmer is content with just watching the sky and she thinks Adora might be too, until the girl pulls her from her thoughts by grabbing her hand.

She wants to ask about it but Adora seems to be so focused running her fingers through Glimmer’s knuckles with calm fascination.

Suddenly the girl looks up and the moment their eyes meet regret flashes in Adora’s expression, like a kid caught red handed. So Glimmer smiles, because there’s nothing wrong with holding hands. Holding hands is nice and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t looking forward to this.

Adora not only holds hands, she stares at Glimmer’s hand with so much innocent wonder. Glimmer would love to know what is going through Adora’s head.

The way Adora slides a finger over Glimmer’s knuckles, with that soft gentle touch, is making Glimmer’s heart race. Her cheeks are getting so red her whole face feels like it’s catching fire.

Adora’s fingers aren’t really touching her hand in any weird ways but there is so much fondness in every caress it’s making Glimmer’s whole body warm up. Adora’s thumb touches her palm and in that moment Glimmer stands up like a spring.

Before Adora can’t notice something’s wrong, she pulls the girl up.

“Do you want to go for a ride?” Glimmer winces at how sudden her suggestion sounds, hopefully Adora won’t notice just how nervous Glimmer is getting. Getting touchy with Adora in the way Glimmer wants is definitely not first date material, so Glimmer needs to get her head back from the gutter.

“Sure.” Adora isn’t saying much but the smile she gives Glimmer could light up the whole sky.

From the corner of her eye she can see Adora shivering a bit and rubbing her hands together; is she trying to hide it?

“Aren’t you cold?” Glimmer asks, getting a bit more relaxed now that Adora isn’t focusing her undivided attention on her hand.

“I, uh, kinda.”

“You didn’t bring a jacket?”

“It wasn’t cold when I left the house...?” Adora replies and it doesn’t sound right, but Glimmer doesn’t question it further. The girl probably forgot to bring one and is embarrassed, there’s no real reason to make a big deal out of something like this.

So she takes off her jacket and places it in Adora’s shoulders. The loose fitting garment barely fits Adora’s frame... and the sleeves are too short for the girl’s arms. But she looks _so good_ , Glimmer can feel her legs shake a bit.

“Aren’t you gonna be cold?” Adora suddenly asks but she looks so comfortable and warm in the jacket, Glimmer would have no heart to take it back now.

“I have a flannel shirt, no worries.” She pats the soft warm fabric and without another word climbs into her moped and puts her helmet on.

Without the extra barrier provided by the jacket, Glimmer can feel even more of Adora’s body barely grazing against her back.

It makes her heart skip several beats for some seconds but after that a pleasant sensation settles between them.

It makes the moment feel intimate, just both of them and the empty highway. Plus riding the bike gives her something else to focus on instead of the overflowing feelings she’s having just by looking at Adora’s eyes.

Glimmer loves riding her scooter but she’s not sure she ever had as much fun as she’s having right now with Adora.

“Uh, Glimmer? Where are we going?”

The question brings Glimmer out of her thoughts and she realizes she doesn’t really recognize her surroundings.

“I think I must have lost my way,” she mutters after pulling over to the side.

Looking up, Glimmer notices there are no stars in the sky, or at least they’re not visible. They’re back to the city but this is a place she doesn’t really recognize. They climb down from the bike and look around.

“Sorry, I was a bit distracted.” Glimmer takes out her cellphone and starts to navigate through the apps. “Lemme just use the GPS,” she adds, sending an apologetic glance towards Adora.

“Wait, I think I might know where we are,” Adora replies in a whisper. She walks around and then stops. “The arena...?”

“Do you know this place?” _The arena_ doesn’t sound like a place Glimmer might know, so she’s immediately intrigued.

Adora looks around cautiously and then steps closer to Glimmer.

“You should know it too, if only because you should always avoid coming here,” she advises while guiding Glimmer by the shoulders back to the parked scooter.

“What? Why? What is this place?”

But her question gets answered by a red graffiti in a metal door. She can recognize that particular logo instantly.

“The Horde.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t really like the Horde,” Glimmer says with clenched teeth and a forced smile after sitting on the scooter.

“Not a lot of people do.” Adora’s voice sounds so vulnerable in that moment as she climbs and sits behind Glimmer. Glimmer wonders if Adora has some kind of story involving the Horde.

They adjust their helmets and after Glimmer adjusts the GPS they hit the road.

“My hate for them is rooted in something a bit more... _personal_.” Glimmer hasn’t talked about this to anyone, all the people that know, have known from other people or sources. But Glimmer herself has never talked to anyone about it. Not even to Bow.

“Some years ago, there was an accident...”

So she isn’t sure if it’s a good idea to tell Adora. But her heart is beating and her mouth is running. She needs to tell someone and Adora is not the worse person she could choose to tell.

“Some Horde students where drunk driving, they crashed against my dad’s car and he...” She leaves the sentence hanging when the word gets stuck in her throat.

Glimmer doesn’t want this to be a secret, she wants this to be in the open before their relationship goes further. And it might not be _first date material_ but Glimmer can’t be bothered to think about that.

Adora’s arms hug her waist a bit tighter and it gives her the courage to keep talking.

“The Horde students survived and the charges were dismissed... because they were _Horde students..._ ” Glimmer allows herself to revel in the hug Adora is giving her. “They are always doing whatever they want without facing any consequences, I’m sick of them.”

Silence falls over them and Glimmer starts to worry she might have said too much, she might have made Adora uncomfortable. But she doesn’t know what else to say. Adora remains silent but her grip on her waist remains strong, so Glimmer calms down a bit. The night sky is starting to change and Glimmer is reminded of the passage of time.

“It’s getting pretty late, I bet you’re tired,” she points out trying to sound natural. Like this whole awkward convo about the Horde didn’t happen.

Instead of verbally answering, Adora nods. Glimmer cannot see the motion, she just feels it and it manages to keep her composure even if the movement sends pleasant shivers down her spine.

“Want me to give you a ride home?”

This time, Adora hums a bit, as if considering the offer.

“I would love to, but I don’t think it’s a really good idea,” Adora replies, her voice sounds raspy and that makes Glimmer tremble. But the words she’s saying make disappointment settle in Glimmer’s gut.

“Why not?”

“I live a bit far and... I don’t really want to inconvenience you after everything you’ve done for me.”

That sounds like a really weak excuse, Glimmer would drive across countries just for Adora. But she doesn’t actually say anything like that out loud, this is only the first date and she isn’t aiming to sound that desperate.

“It’s not _inconvenient_ , Adora, if you live far that’s all the more reason for me to take you home.”

“N-no, really, I would feel bad if I make you go with me all the way to my house,” Adora insists half-heartedly.

“Adora, that wouldn’t be a problem, really.” Glimmer is trying really heard to be reassuring instead of pushy, but she's afraid she always comes across more like the latter.

“I don’t know, sorry,” Adora sounds so apologetic so Glimmer stops insisting.

Adora looks a bit embarrassed. So Glimmer supposes Adora might have a good reason for not wanting Glimmer to drive her home.

“Where would you like me to drop you off then?” Glimmer hates how her words sound so detached. She doesn’t like it, but she’s not sure how else to word it when Adora is putting this distance between them.

“Uh, Bright Moon's Café is fine, don’t worry about the rest.”

Glimmer can’t avoid worrying but she doesn’t make any comment about it because she assumes that’s what Adora is actually asking of her.

Dawn is upon them by the time they arrive to the place. Adora climbs down the bike and, after Adora gives back Glimmer’s jacket, they look at each other for several seconds.

It’s like no one wants to be the one to say goodbye but Glimmer knows she can’t stay here forever. She has to go back home before her mom wakes up.

“See ya around,” she says and then because she feels like she needs to do something else she makes a military salute. It’s ridiculous and it makes her feel stupid, but Adora smiles and salutes back and Glimmer feels her worries melt away.

She is starting the engine of her scooter when she feels strong arms surround her neck and pull her towards something firm and warm. She gasps when her face hits something really soft and all the breath leaves her lungs when she realizes she has her head against Adora’s chest.

Her first impulse is to move back, but Adora’s arms surrounding her shoulders are strong and unrelenting. Adora is leaving her with only one choice and Glimmer is more than happy to oblige.

Her own arms circle Adora’s waist and return the hug with equal strength.

Adora sighs before her grip starts to slowly slacken, till Glimmer is free from the hug.

Glimmer is breathing heavily but it doesn’t matter. Adora is beaming, in retrospective, Glimmer’s actions were inevitable. There was no way she could stop herself with Adora looking like that.

Glimmer places her hands on Adora’s shoulders and leaps up. Her mouth crashes a bit painfully against Adora’s but Adora doesn’t complain or step back. She leans into the kiss and Glimmer’s heart starts beating faster.

Glimmer stops the kiss before she gets carried away. After all, this is just the first date and she’s sure Bow would have a thing or two to say about having kissed Adora like three times already.

Adora is looking at her with glazed eyes. Glimmer has to focus on her scooter to fight the impulse to kiss her once more. She bids Adora goodbye and drives away as fast as she can.

Not because she wants to be away from Adora but because she really needs to hurry back home and being next to Adora wouldn’t help her to get back to her house on time.

Also, this way she cannot give time for Adora to show any sign of regret if she even wanted to.

Adora is always close but never enough, always keeping a distance. Glimmer knows she has to be patient and she is... but at the same time she can’t wait for the distance to be gone...

 

* * *

 

It has been a whole day since her date with Adora, Glimmer still can’t believe anything that happened and can’t stop thinking about Adora. Even if Adora didn’t stop by yesterday Glimmer isn’t bothered, few things could ruin her mood for the week.

Time goes by and she isn’t aware of her surroundings until someone places a hand on her shoulder.

“Glimmer, can I talk to you?”

Glimmer takes several seconds to react and then several seconds more to get over the jitters that don’t allow her to reply. In front of her stands Adora and Glimmer feels her good mood multiply tenfold.

“Sure!”

Adora smiles but it doesn’t look natural. After the way she smiled during their date these smiles look lackluster in comparison. It honestly worries her a bit, seeing Adora acting weird after their date. The feeling that she did something wrong settles in her gut and makes her sweat a bit.

They take a seat in Adora’s favorite table and even if Glimmer wants to sit next to her she chooses to sit across from her.

“I... I want to let you know I’m so glad I met you.” Adora’s words still sound so sincere and happy so Glimmer is willing to ignore what might be behind Adora’s smiles.

“Same here, I don’t know what brought you to Bright Moon, but I’m glad you started coming,” she replies with a bit of relief.

“The thing that brought me here was actually you,” Adora blurts, looking away with a nervous smile.

That makes Glimmer halt and she has to look at Adora to make sure she isn’t actually pulling her leg.

“You... I... I don’t expect you to remember me...” Adora lowers her head, doing her best to avoid eye contact. “...at least not fondly,” she adds in a lower voice.

But Glimmer hears every word perfectly and she doesn’t bother to hide the confusion in her face. She’s about to ask questions when Adora talks once more.

“It’s a long story and I don’t really have a lot of time.”

“Holy crap, Adora, are you dying?”

“Ah, no, no, is nothing extreme like that, I just... I might be going away for a while.” Adora looks to the side and before Glimmer can follow her gaze, Adora is leaning towards her and she has Adora’s intense stare on her. “Listen, Glimmer, I wasn’t really intending to hide this from you but, there was no easy way to say it.”

_Now Adora is really scaring Glimmer, it feels like it might be something even worse than dead..._

“I’m part of the Horde,” Adora states with a serious almost regretful face. Adora isn’t one to play around with something like this. But even then, Glimmer founds herself wishing with all her might that this is just a joke.

_...even if it’s not, this actually feels worse than dead._

“W-wait, you’re from Horde Academy?” She asks, mostly to make sure they are talking about the same Horde, and also because she refuses to believe Adora’s words right away.

“Yeah, sorry.” That leaves no room for argument or doubt. They ARE talking about the same Horde and Adora doesn’t look too proud to admit it, but she’s also not rushing to add anything else.

The look on Glimmers face is one of utter betrayal but some seconds go by and the shocked expression turns into an angered one.

She doesn’t get to say anything, because the turmoil leaves her with an overwhelming air of helplessness. It doesn’t matter how many punches she may be able to land on Adora, that doesn’t change anything. Hitting Adora wouldn’t change anything, she’s still from the Horde and Glimmer hates Horde assholes.

But... Adora is not like that... is she?

By the time she lifts her gaze Adora is already standing up and leaving.

“I’m really sorry, I have to go now.”

Glimmer wants to stop Adora and ask for an explanation, for a chance to clarify her words, for a moment to think about this new info Adora just dumped on her  —she is willing to work this thing out together— but as she lifts her eyes she sees a tall, dark-haired woman wearing a face mask walking up to Adora.

“Are you ready to go now, Adora?”

“Yeah, I’m all set now,” Adora replies without any hesitation. And even if the words are completely ordinary, they carry some implications that hurt Glimmer, a lot. So she has to look away from the retreating figures.

Glimmer hears the steps walking away and the door of the café opening and closing. And then her eyes get filled with tears.

There she is, small and weak, stuck in the atmosphere while the stars get further away from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first time trying (and completing) this kind of story (I mostly do one-shots and shorter stuff, y’see), so I hope this doesn’t feel rushed, or choppy. Since this was something I really wanted to finish (and not let it stay as a wip for months) I tried to skip all the things I didn’t want to write (or cut the ones where I felt like this was moving too slow), hopefully I didn’t end up skipping something essential.  
> If ya made it all the way here consider leaving a key-smash or throw a word or two in a review with your feels about this (I tried to make this a fun ride and I would love to read what ya guys think ;D).  
> Anyway, see you soon in part two of this 3-part mess :P


	2. Side B - Goodbye to the stars (Adora & Catra’s Side)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra might be a bit of a stinker here but I had a blast writing her and my Catra-loving sister would kill me if I don’t write her cool, so... hope I did a good job with her.  
> This is Catra and Adora’s pov of the events from the first chap, but ya still get some new stuff! Again, long read ahead, so be prepared ;D (this is even longer than the last one soz)  
> Hope you enjoy this hot mess :D!

“Are you ready, Adora?”

There’s a moment of hesitation, and Adora takes her time to answer.

“I don’t know, Catra.” Because, if you were to honestly ask Adora, this doesn’t seem like the best idea.

“It will be fine.” Catra reassures with both of her hands on the steering wheel of the car.

They’re parked just outside a ratty old house surrounded by the tallest trees in the block. The porch and the small garden are covered in shadows but yellow light from the inside of the house pours through a small window.

Adora is unsure what is happening and it most likely shows in her face cause Catra rushes to explain.

“Here’s the place, the old wench that left a big ass scratch in Lonnie’s ride lives here.”

“So remind me why I gotta do this?”

“Because Lonnie and Kyle and Rogelio are cowards and asked us to help and if you do this they will owe us a favor.” She pauses to sigh and slump over the wheel. “I would do it myself but fucking Shadow _Guacamole_ wants to talk with me _again_ , like, what is her problem with me.”

Shadow _Weaver_ —their tutor who insists on being called by that ridiculous title— is always pestering them to do weird shady stuff for her, but she specially loves to vex Catra with the dumbest stuff.

Adora suspects she just does it to get a rise out of Catra, but then again, Catra’s outright disrespect from every form of authority would make anyone want to keep a close eye on her.

“C’mon! You’re just gonna kick her garbage cans and maybe kick that big pile of leaves in the corner of the garden, maybe mess up her precious porch a bit...” Catra explains and Adora feels a bit bad for getting lost in her own thoughts for a moment there.

“Isn’t that a bit too much?”

“Nah, we’re the Horde, nobody messes with us and gets a free pass, and whatever happens we have each other.”

The last words make Adora smile. She pulls the hood of her school jacket over her head and closes the zipper. She fist-bumps Catra and gets out of the car.

“I’ll pick ya up from the bus stop in half an hour, or at least I hope, every other time _Shallow_ Weaver wants to see me it just ends up being a total waste of my time, so, this might be fun.” Catra’s voice sounds as excited as a kid going to the dentist; so... basically just dull and exhausted.

Making a mess is always the easiest part of a job, so Adora doesn’t take a lot of time to do some damage to the garden. She has already kicked the leaves and the trash cans and the mailbox is kinda busted as well, when she sees someone walking down the street and decides to run away.

She’s already halfway to the bus stop when someone stops her with a firm hand in her shoulder.

“Hey, do you think bullying Madam Razz is funny?”

Adora looks over her shoulder but doesn’t stop walking. She sees a small, stocky girl, with bright short hair, walking towards her.

“Get lost.” She doesn’t acknowledge her question and keeps walking. It seems to be a terrible mistake.

Taking Adora by surprise, the girl stands in front of her and throws a punch to her face that sends Adora tumbling back and falling down on the floor.

Shoving her hand under her nose, Adora feels something warm and wet dripping. She doesn’t have to look at it to know it’s blood, the smell is a big giveaway. Before alarm can cloud her mind, she checks the contours of her nose in the place she was hit.

It doesn’t feel broken, but it hurts a lot. Even if she rationalizes that she’s not in a life or death situation, the whole circumstance makes her feel very apprehensive.

She wasn’t expecting to get hit and not with that much strength either, so it makes sense that her heartbeats cannot slow down... probably.

This girl... this young woman in front of her doesn’t look like the kind of person that would just start a fight, but Adora’s bloody nose is enough proof of her mistaken assumption.

“All of you, Horde Academy idiots, feel so big and mighty, you’re just glorified jocks, so stop acting like that gives you the right to act like fucking criminals without facing any consequences!!”

Adora doesn’t know what to answer, she could try apologizing but that might sound half-hearted, she could try to say something else, but she’s not sure she can get a word out without angering the short girl even more.

The girl... she’s breathing heavily, like a bull, and her fists are clenched and her shoulders tense like she’s holding back from just jumping on Adora and keep punching her. The street lamp shines over her head and she looks... _radiant_.

It’s stupid but Adora can’t stop herself from thinking that last thing.

“Fuck, you’re so entitled!” She screams and Adora knows she shouldn’t feel intimidated and yet...

Adora trains almost every day and wins every fight she gets into (or more exactly, every fight _Catra_ gets into). If she so desired she could easily kick this girl’s butt.

But there’s some irrational fear in her. She feels like she wouldn’t have a chance against this girl, there is just something about her... Adora doesn’t even know if she would actually want to fight back against this girl...

And that is kind of a messed up thought to have... probably... Adora can’t really think clearly right now...

So she doesn’t move from her spot on the floor. She doesn’t know what else to do but act as harmless as possible and maybe hope the girl calms down and walks away, whenever that happens.

Suddenly she hears some quick steps getting close, at first she hopes it’s Catra running towards them. She could help her get away from this mess, but her hopes get dashed once she notices the person is a tall lanky boy with dark skin.

“Glimmer, what are you doing?” His voice cracks tremendously with alarm and he pulls at the girl (Glimmer?) a bit as if to make sure she isn’t intending to move from her spot.

“Bow, leave me alone,” she shoves the boy back with her elbow but doesn’t make any other move, she just keeps staring Adora down.

Adora is secretly hoping the shadows casted by her hoodie are enough to conceal her busted nose and shocked face, she probably looks like trash and for some reason she doesn’t want Glimmer to see her like this.

“C’mon, Glimmer, it’s not worth it.”

“Shut it, Bow! You don’t get to tell me that.” Even if her words sound harsh the boy doesn’t act hurt, he just looks between Glimmer and Adora, nervously wringing his hands.

“Glimmer...”

But the girl is no longer looking at him, her eyes are locked on Adora’s once again and Adora feels a chill running down her spine.

Her heart is beating faster while the girl walks slowly towards her. Adora feels her face warm and her mind reels with confusion at the contradicting reactions from her body. She has no reason to feel excited and yet...

Glimmer throws something at her.

“Clean your nose or something, not that I care if you look like an idiot with a bloody nose.”

Adora takes several long seconds to react, but once she does she notices the object resting in her chest is a napkin; light-brown, soft to the touch and with a purple logo of a moon in the center.

She finally takes it in her hands and uses it to dab at the blood covering half of her face.

“Can you stand up?”

The boy is standing next to her with a stretched hand, Adora accepts the gesture and stands up with his help but she can’t peel her eyes away from Glimmer.

Glimmer... just thinking of her name is enough to make Adora’s pulse rush. She wants to say something, anything, but before she can’t even start to think, Glimmer is already walking away without another word.

“Sorry about that, she has a bit of a grudge against you Horde guys.”

Adora shrugs. _Doesn’t anyone?_ The more she gets to know people from outside Horde Academy the more she realizes most people don’t have them in very high regards. But that isn’t important, right? If anything happens, Catra and the rest of the Horde have her back.

“I hope she didn’t hurt you too badly...”

“N-no, I deserved it, I was truly being an ass.”

The boy looks surprised at Adora’s statement and Adora feels surprised herself at the sincerity in her words.

“Bow, are you coming?”

“Be there in a sec,” he shouts back before turning once more towards Adora. “Anyway, uh, see ya!”

Bow steps back a bit before turning around and sprinting away.

Adora remains on her spot for almost a minute and once she’s sure they’re not coming back she runs as fast as she can to the bus stop where Catra is supposed to pick her up.

Catra’s car is already waiting for her so she throws the door open and immediately takes a seat.

Catra looks at her and it takes her several seconds to react to the scene in the seat next to her. Adora looks like someone wiped the floor with her; her red jacket is covered in dirt, her hair is completely disheveled and her face has spots with dry blood.

“No fucking way, did the old lady do this to you?” Catra asks, her voice trembling with contained laughter.

Then she sees the drying blood staining the collar of Adora’s T-shirt and she seems to immediately sober up.

“Holy crap! Are you ok? You’re not brain damaged are you? Please don’t be brain damaged, Shadow Bitch is gonna have my ass on a plate--”

“Catra, I’m fine.”

“Did that old hag hit you in the head?”

“Catra, stop, it wasn’t her, I just...” Adora thinks of Glimmer, of her fierce eyes shining like embers or her fighting stance that was enough to make her heart beat faster. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She finally says, covering her eyes with a hand. “Can we just, go home?”

Catra nods and they drive away.

Adora says nothing but she keeps her eyes on the napkin, now covered in blood, she can still read the letters surrounding the purple moon... “Bright Moon’s Café”.

She can’t control the way her heartbeat accelerates and she can’t understand it either, she just groans and drops her head in her hands.

“Adora, I swear to **_fucking_** _Godzilla_ , if you _are_ brain damaged—”

She receives an immediate, muffled answer.

“I am _not.”_

 

* * *

 

The next day Adora drops by the old lady’s house, she stands on the outside of the picket fence and winces at the trash spread across the lawn. Just outside the door there’s an old lady sweeping the steps of her porch, looking unaware of the disaster in her garden.

Or maybe she’s aware... and she’s just used to it? That’s a sad thought.

“Good day, ma’am, need any help with that?”

The old lady slowly raises her face, her thick glasses —that look more like the bottom of a crystal bottle than actual lenses— make her eyes appear really big.

For a second Adora doesn’t know if the lady heard her, as she looks in Adora’s general direction with a vacant stare.

“Ma’am?”

“What is it dearie? How can Madam Razz help you?”

“I was wondering if you needed any help.”

“What? Dearie, I can’t hear you when you talk to the ground.”

Madam Razz walks towards Adora, each step she takes looks like an ordeal but finally the woman reaches her picket fence and studies Adora from head to toe.

Adora opens her mouth to repeat herself but Madam Razz interrupts her.

“Have we seen each other before?”

“I... I don’t think so?”

“Mara, dearie, is that you?”

“I don’t know anyone with that name...”

“Nonsense, I have been waiting for you.” The woman takes Adora by the arm and pulls her towards the house. “We promised we would go out today.”

“Actually I rather just stay here and help you sweep the garden.”

“Oh, fine, we can go out afterwards, there’s no rush!”

They don’t really talk while they clean the garden but Madam Razz is whistling happily and Adora can’t avoid the guilt, because this lady is lovely and she just ruined her garden because of some stupid scratch on Lonnie’s car. Not like she doesn’t appreciate Lonnie’s friendship but, she’s sure there was a better way to go about this.

It’s already getting dark when the garden is mostly clean and Adora is already thinking of a way to leave before Madam Razz keeps confusing her with someone else.

“Do you want some coffee?” Without even waiting for an answer, Madam is already walking away, into her house and towards the kitchen.

Adora follows the woman and waits in a bench in the porch.

“There you go, cappuccino with extra cream and sugar, just how you like it, Mara.”

“Thanks! Nice mug.” The mug is from the Bright Moon’s Café, Adora notes almost absentmindedly.

Adora doesn’t even like coffee but she drinks it anyway, it tastes actually nice and she is grateful for the drink. She doesn’t even feel like reminding the woman ( _again_ ) that she isn’t this Mara person.

“Thank, you! Glimmer gave it to me.”

This makes Adora freeze.

“Glimmer?”

“Yes, yes, Glimmer is such a nice young lady, she and Bow used to come visit all the time...”

“ _Used to_?” It doesn’t even matter if Adora asked or not because Madam Razz keeps talking as if Adora hadn’t said a thing.

“But now they work in a café, they are such hardworking kids. But it makes old-me sad because they hardly visit anymore.”

Adora nods and takes another sip of her drink. Suddenly Madam Razz sighs and the mood takes a turn for melancholic. She looks up at the sky longingly.

“They used to come all the time and Glimmer would take me to see the stars, but now she works in the closing shift and she can’t do it anymore...”

Those words prompt Adora to look up at the sky. She doesn’t know much about the stars, and she doesn’t really understand the appeal much. Right now she can barely see a couple of weak unimpressive twinkles in the sky.

“From here the stars seem so far away, my old eyes can’t even see them. But Glimmer used to take me to a place where the stars covered the whole sky... they used to shine so bright...”

The stars Adora knows are always so small and so dull, they hardly take up space in the sky and she can’t imagine them shining brightly. Glimmer is the only one that comes to mind when she thinks of shine.

After finishing her coffee and repairing the mailbox Adora thanks Madam Razz for everything and leaves. Once Adora is already several steps away, she hears Madam Razz’ voice calling out to her.

“Dearie, my, I didn’t catch your name!”

Adora turns around to see the woman frantically waving her hand.

“It’s Adora!”

“Adora!” Madam repeats and smiles and Adora feels some weird warmth in her chest. But it’s nothing compared to the ridiculous unexplainable warmth she feels when she thinks about going to Bright Moon’s Café and seeing Glimmer again.

That evening when Adora reaches her home she’s intrigued, she still can’t stop thinking about Glimmer and now she knows where she can probably find her. She isn’t really sure if it might help to see Glimmer again, she just wants to find out what’s going on with herself.

“Catra, do you know a place called Bright Moon’s Café?” It’s a shot in the dark but she doesn’t really have anyone else to ask.

“I guess, it’s the dumb café Scorpia likes to visit.” Catra is staring at the TV, not really paying attention to the movie playing on the screen but she doesn’t turn to look at her friend either.

So she’s genuinely startled when Adora jumps into the couch and leans uncomfortably close to her.

“Can you take me there?” The conviction in Adora’s voice is so strong Catra isn’t even sure the sentence is a question. She would usually shoot down the request out of annoyance but Adora’s reaction makes her incredibly curious about her motivations.

“Wait, right now?!” Catra asks after Adora leans closer to Catra, looking at her expectantly. Adora only nods enthusiastically. Is Adora aware of the stupid smile she has in her face right now?

Catra only knows about the place because Scorpia likes the chocolate drinks and is literally dragging Catra there at every chance. Catra doesn’t really like most of the things from the menu but the skinny latte she had once wasn’t half bad.

So Catra guesses she can take Adora there. After all, Adora hardly asks favors and this is a perfect chance to find out about the thing that has Adora so worked up.

It’s very late at night, but Adora insists on going anyway. So Catra supposes Adora must have a weird crave for something from that place specifically and doesn’t ask further questions.

But then they visit the place and Adora doesn’t even bother to order anything. She’s just acting all skittish and absently picking at the bandaid in her nose.

“Holy hell, that guy can whip out a latte fast! And look, he even added a little smiley face and scribbled ‘have a nice day’ underneath,” Catra comments with amusement. This kind of thing would usually get a reaction out of Adora but not this time. She just nods while looking down.

It’s annoying and it’s bothering Catra a bit.

She decides to spend their time at the café teasing Adora for getting her ass kicked even if Adora refuses to tell her what happened. She also refuses to explain why she insisted so much in coming to the café...

 

* * *

 

...So Catra is genuinely surprised when the next day Adora asks her to go to the café _again_.

Catra already has plans with Scorpia and Entrapta and afterwards they have a late-night tutoring session with Shadow Weaver, but Adora insists, so Catra yields. She agrees to go pick up Adora from the coffee shop after hanging out with Scorpia and Entrapta.

Adora arrives a little earlier to the coffee shop and when Catra arrives to the place Adora isn’t sitting still. Also she’s wearing her training clothes but they look all messed up, like she got grappled or something.

It’s weird cause they don’t have any Judo lessons today, so there has to be another reason for that.

But she doesn’t look like she just got out of a Horde fight, not quite. Adora hates to fight and she’s looking far too chipper to have been involved in something she dislikes so much.

“Did you see something good?” She asks but Adora just looks at her with a bit of confusion before offering her a shy smile.

She looks so giddy and excited and Catra is confused. But Adora doesn’t do anything too weird, and she already ordered Catra’s drink so Catra decides to let it slide.

“Sorry I’m late,” she clears her throat to get rid of all the residual doubt in her voice, “did I keep you waiting long?”

“Not really.” Adora puts down the comic she’s been reading —and it makes Catra smile, reading Wonder Woman _again_ , like the nerd she is— before handing her the cup of warm coffee. Something in the cup catches Catra's eye.

“So, any particular reason why your name is written with a glitter pen?”

It’s something that she finds funny and she’s just pointing it out because of that. She doesn’t expect Adora to react the way she does. In an instant, Adora hunches her shoulders and looks away, playing nervously with her hair.

“Wh-what do you mean?” She says trying to be nonchalant, but talking in the least convincing voice she has. It’s so terrible and pitiful Catra decides to drop the topic altogether.

“Never mind, remember when I told you Entrapta asked Scorpia and me to start playing Overwatch with her?”

Adora nods, and any awkwardness floating in the air disappears as they slip into their casual interactions.

“Today I got home after class and she has this whole set up of cables and computers and lots of cans of soda littering the floor —you can surely imagine the _mess_!”

“And Scorpia is also there, carrying all this heavy looking stuff. Turns out Entrapta had already assembled computers for all three of us to play the stupid game,” Catra lets out a good natured laugh and takes a sip from her cup.

“But it turned out the game isn’t as stupid as I thought, it’s actually pretty entertaining. If ya ever play against Entrapta don’t let her choose Symmetra or Sombra, that’s all I’m saying.”

“Sounds like fun,” Adora says looking longingly to the side.

Catra follows her gaze to notice the baristas behind the counter; the short girl is laughing softly and pushing the tall boy while he is playfully pointing at a pastry in front of them.

“Hey, maybe you could ask a couple of friends to join you and then we can all play together, it’s always more fun with more people to defeat,” Catra suggests and Adora looks down.

“Yeah, I don’t know about that.” Suddenly Adora’s bright mood shifts to gloomy.

“Do you even have any friends aside from me?” It’s not intended to be a serious question but the alarmed look on Adora’s face tells Catra she’s kinda embarrassed of the answer.

Adora is friends with Lonnie and Kyle and Rogelio... but it’s not quite the same. Sometimes she feels like she’s just a polite acquaintance to them and she can’t really talk to them like she talks to Catra.

“With you as a friend, I don’t need any other friends,” Adora replies in a tiny voice.

“Oh man, that would be really endearing if it wasn’t so sad.”

Adora punches Catra on the arm, it’s a playful gesture but it still hurts a bit and Adora doesn’t seem entirely over her sad moment.

“Hey, watch it, I need that arm to become the best Overwatch player in the world,” Catra teases.

“You call me nerd all the time but you’re the actual nerd.”

“I have _A Car_ , mention one nerd with a car.” Catra pauses but doesn’t actually give enough time for Adora to answer before talking again. “Touché.” She stands up and beckons Adora to do the same. “Now get up, nerd, we gotta go see Shadow _Weeb_ before she decides to send a search party because we were two seconds late to our tutoring session.”

This manages to make Adora smile. Catra exits first and Adora takes some time to look back and search for Glimmer with her eyes. She finds the girl looking back at her and manages to send a small wave of her hand before leaving.

She doesn’t really see Glimmer react but the interaction manages to lighten her mood a bit more.

 

* * *

 

They keep visiting the café but Adora always asks to visit at night and rarely orders anything. Does this has anything to do with how disheveled she looks after she randomly disappears for some hours almost every day?

Catra is no one’s fool so she notices something’s up, she’s just not sure what.

Normally she would allow Adora to keep her secrets, the girl is not that secretive anyway and it’s kind of irksome when she overshares. But going to the café and arguing with the small sparkly barista on daily basis it’s becoming a too common occurrence for her tastes... she’s almost running out of dumb names to call her!

So she confronts Adora and she doesn’t need to push too much before Adora is spilling her secret.

They are sitting in the living room couches, just the two of them, but while Catra is sprawled over the seat like a person without a spine Adora is sitting in the exact stressed-out way she sat when she thought she had lost her favorite plush horse "Horsie" (stupidest name ever, in Catra's opinion but whatever); hunched shoulders and shrinking in place as if to make herself smaller.

Judging by Adora’s worried expression, Catra would deem this conversation important if it wasn’t because Adora is always acting like a worrywart for the dumbest reasons (like that _last time..._ Catra gets food is important, but making tacos for the first time did _not_ warrant the level of mental strain Adora was under).

“I just... I like one of the baristas at the Coffee Shop,” she confesses in a small shy voice.

Oh, this is rich. The smile on Catra’s lips grows. She can’t wait to tease Adora to hell and back with this... but first she needs to know who is exactly the one Adora is crushing on.

“Wait... You mean the dumb looking boy? ...Or the small angry-looking girl?”

“The... uh... the girl.”

 _Figures_ , will Adora ever stop being a dumb lesbian? But suddenly it clicks inside Catra’s head.

“What? You like _Glitter_?”

That is the closest Catra has gotten to say Glimmer’s name, so Adora doesn’t even bother correcting her. She suspects Catra already knows the name and is just misnaming her out of spite at this point.

“Where did you even meet her? She doesn’t look like the kind of girl you would find when you go out on your morning jog.”

“I’ll tell you but you have to promise not to laugh.” Adora’s words catch Catra’s interest and she even sits straight and leans closer to Adora with some concern in her sharp features.

“Uh, sure, promise.”

Adora sighs and starts retelling the events.

“Remember several nights ago when you picked me up from the old lady’s house?”

“Wait a second,” Catra doesn’t even need to hear the rest of the story. She can feel the laugh bubbling in her chest. “...Your busted nose! It was her?!” Catra is already doubling over with laughter and she’s not even sure she can stop even if she tries.

“Catra, you promised you wouldn’t laugh,” Adora complains with annoyance resting her chin on her hand.

“That was before knowing the truth was so incredibly amusing.” Her voice is cracking a lot, probably because she’s doing her best to hold back her laughter for long enough to keep the teasing going.

Adora knows at this point it’s impossible to stop Catra, the best thing she can do is endure it and just allow Catra to run out of steam...

“Oh man, this is the best day of my life... fuCKING TINKER BELL KICKED ADORA’S ASS! I want that on a shirt please!”

_...just hang on till Catra is done._

“And the best part is you would probably thank her if she did it again cause you are suuuuper whipped for her.” Catra slaps Adora in the shoulder while her laughter subsides.

“I’m... I wouldn’t go that far.” Now Adora sounds actually bashful and also frustrated because she cannot control her blushing cheeks or the way her voice trembles a bit.

Catra decides to halt the teasing, at least for now.

It doesn’t really answer what Adora is doing when she isn’t anywhere to be found, though. But Catra decides to lump that with the crush thing. That makes everything easier for now anyway.

 

* * *

 

For several weeks visiting the café becomes part of her routine. And Adora is perfectly content with just visiting the coffee shop and getting glimpses of Glimmer from time to time.

She can’t really complain if watching her from afar is good enough. One day she saw the girl carrying a couple of big coffee sacks and the image was enough to send her heart into overdrive.

Right now, Glimmer is carrying some heavy-looking boxes to the kitchen and Adora doesn’t mean to _stare,_ but at this point she got it bad and she can’t really help it.

“Hey, dumbass, how about you stop being creepy and actually go talk to her.”

“What do you mean? I’ve already talked to her before.”

“Awkward small talk with her every time you order something does _not_ count as a conversation.”

“Are you serious? Ugghh, I’m no good at talking to people.” Adora presses her hands to her face.

“You talk with me all the time,” Catra replies nonchalant.

“But you’re Catra, it’s _different_.”

For some reason this words irk Catra a bit.

“How would it be different?”

“When I talk to her I feel dizzy, and sometimes I forget to breathe, and I can’t really focus on the things I’m saying or the things she’s saying... I can’t actually go and talk to her.”

Catra’s eyes are pretty narrow so she manages to always look sharp or annoyed, but right now her eyes manage to look even more narrowed than normal and Adora feels judged. But the expression goes away in a second once Catra releases a very exaggerated sigh.

“You have to try anyway or you’ll still be no more than a creepy stalker.” Catra stands up and stretches before starting to walk away.

“Wait, Catra, where are you going?”

Catra shrugs.

“I’ll wait for you in the car. I don’t really feel like sticking around while you drool over a girl,” she squeezes her paper cup and throws it into the garbage can on her way out.

Adora feels a bit guilty. Catra didn’t look particularly angry or irritated, but it _must_ be annoying to be dragged to some boring place almost every day only to see your best friend waste time gazing longingly at someone.

“Your friend left early today?”

Without Adora noticing, Bow got close and is currently cleaning a table next to Adora.

“She’s outside waiting for me, I get a feeling that she doesn’t enjoy coming here as much as I do.” As she speaks Adora plays distractedly with a fork her hands found on the table. She just wants something to do and she’s not particularly paying attention to the fork till it falls down.

Without a second thought she leans to pick it up and her hand clumsily bumps with Bow’s as they both reach down for the utensil.

Their eyes meet and Adora feels a jolt of alarm run through her spine at the panic flashing in Bow’s eyes.

Adora should have known that this moment is the beginning of the end. A moment of truth...

He now knows who she is, he recognizes her from that one night when Glimmer punched her.

And for some reason Bow decides to not tell Glimmer anything right away...

_Really, He-man’s twin sister? That’s the wildest excuse she has ever heard anyone say, and she lives with Catra, the queen of outlandish excuses._

...and even asks to talk with her without Glimmer around.

Once she exits Bright Moon’s Café she’s walking as quickly as she can towards Catra’s car with the words Bow said echoing in her head.

“You look a bit pale... did you actually talk to her?”

“N-no, but hopefully I can do it soon.”

She really hopes Bow keeps her secret for a bit longer. By secret, does she mean her feelings for Glimmer? ...Or the fact that she’s the idiot Glimmer punched in the nose? Adora isn’t even sure at this point.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day comes and Adora can’t really calm her nerves but she does her best to at least _look_ calm. It’s not really working cause she looks impossibly pale and she’s so sweaty must be noticeable in her face.

She leaves without even telling Catra. Adora seems to be doing that a lot lately so she doesn’t even feel weird about it.

Once she arrives at the café she feels the wave of nervousness return and hit her with strength. So she remains outside of the place trying to gather enough courage to enter.

Her time runs out when a barista standing in front of the counter notices her. It’s weird to just stand outside the glass doors after that, so she walks in quickly without thinking too much about how nervous she is.

“Oh, hey, you actually came.” She hasn’t taken more than two steps into the shop when Bow is already in front of her.

“Yeah, didn’t want you getting the wrong idea,” Adora replies, nervously scratching her nape. Bow nods and turns towards the counter.

“Mermista! I’m gonna take my break right now and talk to a friend, call me if ya need any help.”

The bored-looking woman behind the counter just waves her hand noncommittally at him and replies with a simple and dry-sounding “Sure”.

Bow guides them to a small table in the corner of the shop and he hasn’t even finished sitting when he’s already asking questions.

“So, what’s your deal?”

“M-my deal?”

“Yeah, why do you keep coming at the café at night? Is it really because you have some weird interest in Glimmer?”

Adora closes her eyes and lets out a deep sigh. She can feel her hands start to sweat.

“I... please don’t make a big deal out of this, I just, I think I’m in love with Glimmer.”

Bow proceeds to ignore her pleads of _not making a big deal out of this_ , probably not out of malice and more likely because the news shock him a bit too much.

“HOLY FIRST ONE’S TECH!!”

Adora winces. Bow stands up and slams his hands on the table.

“I’m sORRY... _you_ WHAT?!” Bow does his best to keep his voice down but his excitement makes it very hard.

“Do you want me to actually repeat it?”

“Ah, no, I heard ya the first time... LOUD _AND_ CLEAR!”

Adora winces once more and this time she even hunches her shoulders, she’s too embarrassed to look around and see the commotion Bow is causing, so she focuses her eyes on the wood table in front of her and squirms uselessly in her chair.

“Sorry, it’s not that Glimmer isn’t great girlfriend material, I know she’s awesome, I’m mostly excited cause...” Bow trails off and focuses on Adora who is drilling a hole on the table with her gaze.

Adora doesn’t know what Bow was about to say but she waits for him to finish his sentence

“...This is all so exciting.” He finally says and Adora feels like he wanted to say something else but she doesn’t ask him about that anyway.

“You need to talk to her, stat! Glimmer is so dense, she won’t understand you’re flirting with her if you don’t give it to her straight, but it’s ok, she kind of likes people talking to her without beating around the bush,” Bow thinks out loud with a thoughtful expression.

Bow seems to be very comfortable with the topic but this is pretty scary territory for Adora.

“I can’t actually walk up to her and tell her I have a crush on her.”

“No, I do believe that’s exactly what you need to do,” Bow rebuts without missing a beat.

“Are you serious???”

“Yeah, as long as you don’t act too arrogant or aggressive about it... maybe you should write her a letter,” he concludes earnestly.

“Ah, no, that doesn’t sound like something I can do.” But she heeds the idea anyway.

It’s not like Adora prefers indirect approaches, but when it comes to people she prefers to avoid everything altogether.

“You have to try.”

Adora whole-heartedly agrees. Nothing will happen if she just sits and waits in a corner while watching Glimmer from afar, but it’s not that easy. It never is. Especially if you are someone awkward and distant like Adora.

“Easy for you to say, I’m not the kind of charismatic person everyone likes; most people avoid me, I don’t even know how to talk to people...”

“You are talking to me now,” Bow points out with a smile.

“Yeah but you’re...”

Adora freezes, this is like the exact exchange she had with Catra. And it’s not like she doesn’t appreciate talking with Catra or Bow but...

“...You’re not Glimmer.”

If she could just talk to Glimmer... she’s not even sure about the things she would end up saying to her. Would Glimmer want to even talk to her... to someone like _her_?

“I’m not really...” Adora can’t find the word she’s looking for.

She’s not _**what**?_

But Bow just smiles and his eyes soften.

“I don’t really know you but, I just have this feeling...” he stands up and walks till he’s next to Adora and kneels, “...this feeling that you would be so good to Glimmer, and she would be good to you too.”

She’s left starstruck. Because, all the time, she aims to be better —the best— but somehow she’s never enough.

But, if there’s a chance —however small— to approach Glimmer, to be good enough for her, Adora really wants to give it a shot.

 

* * *

 

“You have to be objective,” Entrapta taps her finger to her chin while she thinks. “Tell her you possess a taller and stronger frame than the average human and therefore have bigger chances of survival if you ever decide to fight for her honor!”

“That doesn’t sound right, she has to highlight other far more important qualities, like, can you tenderly nurse her back to health? Cause I’d say that’s a thing you should be letting her know,” Scorpia suggests tapping Adora in the shoulder.

They are all sitting in the living room and even if Adora did enlist their assistance to help her write her confession letter for Glimmer, she’s not sure if she’s regretting it now. Catra looks like a kid that has been forced to go to church on a Sunday morning.

Catra loves her friends with all her heart, but she’s definitely _not_ loving the absolutely tone-deaf suggestions they’re making. So she finally sits up on the couch she has been lounging like a rag doll to add her two cents.

“How about... ‘Hey, since you punched me in the face I dream of holding your hand and marrying you’.”

“Catra I can’t say that! She would know I’m from the Horde... she doesn’t even know... and she can’t find out, not yet.” Everyone is looking at Adora and she realizes she might need to explain herself to a group of Horde members that obviously see no issue with being part of the Horde.

“She said she hates people from the Horde and I don’t want her to hate me too.”

Catra is left speechless for several seconds where she can hear Entrapta’s whispers as she records yet another note in her phone about social interaction and awkward conversation topics.

“So...let me get this straight.” Catra finally says. “You... are choosing to reject my suggestion because she doesn’t know you’re the Horde idiot she punched?”

Adora nods, not suspecting she’s setting herself for a world of teasing. She just makes this so easy for Catra.

“Funny, you complain about that and not about the ‘dreaming about her’ part,” Scorpia supplies, obliviously helping Catra’s plans.

“That probably means it’s true,” Entrapta whispers to Scorpia loud enough for everyone to hear.

And Adora doesn’t even tries to argue, she just looks at the ground, whining and looking like a puppy that got yelled at.

“Anyway, only you would allow your stupid ass to fall in love with a girl that hates ‘All Horde members’ or some dumb shit like that.” Catra tries to sound dismissive but it ends up sounding like a scolding.

“Don’t worry, Adora, you’re valid,” Scorpia comforts patting Adora’s back with enough strength to leave a hand imprinted on her back.

“I have no idea what that is supposed to mean,” Adora replies alternating between looking at Catra, for any form of help, and looking at Scorpia, expecting an explanation.

But Scorpia just smiles and Catra raises her hands in surrender and looks away making her distinctive ‘Don’t even look at me, I can’t help you’ face.

Hours go by and Adora decides to walk out to their small balcony to take a break. Her attempts at notes lie crumpled on the floor.

Catra doesn’t intend to get any more involved in this stupid mess, but watching Adora mope alone in the balcony is almost as sad as watching Scorpia try to hug every cat she sees only to get scratched across the face.

“Are you sad?” Catra asks, closing the balcony sliding door behind her. She can see Adora’s shoulders tense only for a fraction of a second before tiredly slouching again.

“I’m not,” but she sounds too discouraged to seem actually sure about that.

“Adora? More like SADora.” The comment earns her a grunt from Adora but Catra laughs at her own joke anyway.

“Why is this so hard? It’s just a note, it wasn’t supposed to be this hard,” Adora whines slumping over the thin guardrail, making the metal structure creak a bit.

“You’re such a damn perfectionist, just... keep it simple.”

It’s not like Catra is acting meaner than usual or anything but the way she nonchalantly tells her that... it just... makes Adora want to hit things. But she doesn’t do it, she resorts to lace her words with the venom she feels coursing her veins.

“But it’s not simple, and I don’t want to just _make_ it simple! If I end up screwing up I might not get a second chance, I cannot be reckless, can’t you see that?”

Catra can’t really see why Adora is getting so distraught. Like, it’s not as complicated, she just gets all worked up when things don’t go her way the first time, and it’s so annoying.

“Nobody cares, Adora. You’re not doing anything because you’re fucking scared, so stop overthinking and just do something.”

The words seem to slap all the anger from Adora’s face and Catra feels satisfaction seep into her.

“I’m not scared or anything...” Adora mumbles.

“Really? You asked _Scorpia_ AND _Entrapta_ for _Help._ ” Catra pokes Adora in the arm every time she emphasizes a word. “If you aren’t scared then you’re incredibly desperate, and that’s honestly worse.”

Catra is bracing herself for Adora’s reply, she’s almost expecting the alarmed denial or the aggressive rebuttal, but none of it comes and Catra is almost disappointed to hear Adora sigh.

“You’re right.” Those words take Catra by surprise but she’s not even remotely prepared to hear what comes afterwards. “I don’t know what I’m doing, and I really don’t wanna mess up and I haven’t done anything because I’m scared, but... I wanna change that, I don’t know why it’s so difficult to even try...”

After talking, Adora slumps against the rail again but this time the movement is so gentle the metal bars barely make a sound.

“Bring out your notebook,” Catra hisses and Adora looks surprised, like she’s not even sure if Catra actually talked. “C’mon! I’m helping you unfuck this mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” Catra repeats almost yelling into Adora’s face and the girl almost trips with her own feet while scrambling to get her notebook.

 

* * *

 

 

A day later, Adora has her note in her pocket. May Catra get a blessing from whatever deity she believes in for helping Adora put her feelings into simple and clean words.

Her nerves are killing her, she can’t stop sweating as she enters the coffee shop and, with choppy sentences, orders a slice of chocolate cake.

After the money exchange and getting her cake she practically shoves the small folded note into Glimmer’s hands and walks away quickly to take a seat.

She’s so anxious she doesn’t really feel like eating her cake, so she takes out the comic book she always carries in her bag to distract herself from the anxious feeling that is tearing her apart.

When Glimmer walks up to the table, Adora has this impulse of just running away but she doesn’t move, she freezes and pretends she’s concentrated on her comic. She doesn’t even want to hear what Glimmer has to say. She’s too scared of anything Glimmer might say.

“I read your note.” It’s not the worst thing Glimmer could say to her but it makes her jump anyway. She’s so tense right now but even if she would rather bolt away right now she decides to nod and put away her comic.

Then Glimmer is taking a seat next to her and Adora feels her head swim. She starts taking slow deep breaths, because fainting right now is one of the only things that could make this whole situation even worse.

Then the conversation starts to flow and Adora is mostly just moving on instinct, replying and talking without even thinking. Her mind is too busy overflowing with thoughts of Glimmer and how nice it is to be talking to her.

Glimmer invites her to come over to the café and talk to get to know each other and Adora can’t even say no.

She’s so scared of doing something wrong, she feels like she needs some time to ponder about everything.

But also, every glance at Glimmer just makes it harder to think, harder to remember why she wants to say no. This is a new feeling and even if she wants to resist its charm she just... can’t. There’s no actual drive to resist even if a part of her feels like she should.

Shit. This is confusing but she can’t go back now anyway.

“Sure!” The words leave her mouth without her permission and Adora wants to punch a wall or bang her head against the table.

But she does neither cause Glimmer smiles at her in a way that warms Adora’s chest and it completely reboots her brain till she’s not longer able to remember the things they were talking about or the turmoil in her head from moments ago.

 

* * *

 

Despite Adora’s initial reluctance and doubts, she comes to the café the next day. Because it would be stupid to just not take the chance when this is kind of what she wanted to achieve.

She enters the place trying to act as if nothing has changed but it’s immediately obvious this time is different from the other ones. Glimmer takes out her earbuds and walks towards Adora the moment she steps into the café.

Adora is so tense, she’s not even trying to hide it (because she can’t).

So Glimmer offers her a drink. And that shouldn’t be a problem for Adora, except for the fact that she doesn’t drink coffee and she knows nothing about drinks. She scratches her nape and looks up to the ceiling while debating in what to say.

Rejecting Glimmer’s offer might be rude and make their conversation awkward so she might as well order anything.

But, here’s the thing, if she chooses something that doesn’t taste right, it might become an ordeal to finish the drink—not finishing the drink is outta the question—. It would definitely be offensive to not drink the entire beverage that Glimmer herself is preparing for her...

Staring at the menu hanging from the ceiling, she stalls for several seconds until an idea comes to mind.

“I’ll have a cappuccino with extra cream and sugar.”

Glimmer looks a bit surprised by the request but the surprise disappears in and instant and she’s already smiling and moving to prepare it so Adora thinks nothing of it.

“You got it!”

Adora takes a seat and waits for Glimmer. She’s not sure if there’s some special etiquette for situations like this one. She completely forgot to ask Catra about these things, but then again there was really no easy way to acquire the knowledge, was it?

Is it rude to take out a comic book and start reading? Should she just sit here looking at Glimmer? ...or would that be creepy? She looks around the empty café while bouncing her leg.

She completely misses Glimmer walking towards her and it takes everything in her to not jump with surprise when Glimmer talks.

“Here you go, Adora!”

Glimmer is handing her a warm cup and Adora grabs it. Their hands touch and the contact lasts less than a second but Adora’s brain latches onto the memory regardless of how stupid that might be.

“I may or may not have gotten carried away with the preparation so... sorry,” Glimmer apologizes, looking completely unaffected by the hand-touching incident.

Looking away, Adora stares in awe at the sparkly foam swirling around the paper cup in her hands.

“Is this... glitter?”

“Edible glitter, yes! I have a thing for adding some to food or drinks from time to time,” Glimmer explains.

Adora nods and continues staring at the almost hypnotic way the glitter sparkles and shines inside the cup.

“When in doubt add glitter!” Glimmer adds with a smile that appears strained. Adora isn’t sure if she has done something wrong so she rushes to lift the cup to her lips.

After taking a sip, some glittery foam sticks to her lips before she licks it away slowly as if taking her time to taste it all.

The warmth that flows into her mouth relaxes her and then Glimmer smiles at her and Adora feels even calmer, she takes another sip and smiles when the flavor floods her mouth once again.

She doesn’t enjoy the bitter taste of coffee, but she could get used to this.

“You got glitter in your mouth,”

Before Adora even has the time to react, Glimmer cleans it with a napkin. And it manages to make Adora’s brain short-circuit so hard she can’t even control the dopey smile growing in her lips.

They talk about fleeting stuff for a while but hours afterwards the only thing Adora can think of is the second when her hand touched Glimmer’s and the way Glimmer fondly cleaned the corner of her lips with a napkin.

It’s so dumb and pitiful but, while Adora tosses and turns in her bed at night, she decides to admit to herself that she’s not used to that kind of caring, thoughtless gestures.

 

* * *

 

Regardless of her reservations, Adora keeps coming to the coffee shop every day (and Catra is more than happy to know that she’s not required to accompany Adora anymore).

And even if Adora greatly enjoys spending time with Glimmer, she can’t shake the feelings of inadequacy that get a hold on her as soon as she leaves Glimmer’s presence.

Truth be told, Adora feels really undeserving. Like she can barely understand what Glimmer sees in her. Why is she giving her this chance? It’s not like Adora is not grateful for it but she certainly feels like she’s cheating to get this far.

Then it happens, something Adora didn’t even dare to wish for...

Glimmer asks her out on a date and for the first seconds, Adora feels like she’s in a dream but then Glimmer touches her hand, accidentally brushing against the scabs on her knuckles and the illusion breaks a bit.

She can’t really walk around town with Glimmer next to her. Other Horde members might see them, but it should be fine if they go out after curfew, right?

She’s always sneaking out at night with Catra but she isn’t sure if Glimmer might be ok with a nightly trip.

“I know this is a bit of a weird request but, would you be ok if we go out at night?”

She expects Glimmer to act weirded out or ask a lot of questions but instead she only asks one.

“Eight o’clock sounds good for you?”

Since the coffee shop closes on Sunday they agree to see each other that day (Monday morning classes be damned), choosing the coffee shop as their meeting spot.

The date is happening and Adora can’t wait for Sunday to arrive.

 

* * *

 

There’s no one at the meeting spot when Adora arrives. Which is perfect cause it gives Adora some much needed time to calm herself and try to appear relaxed before Glimmer gets here.

Adora doesn’t bring any coat cause all of hers have Horde motifs and the only one who doesn’t have ‘em is dirty right now. But the night is not that cool so she hopes it doesn’t become an issue.

She’s wearing a red and white striped polo shirt and her only pair of jeans without any rips or noticeable stains. She hopes that’s enough so that Glimmer doesn’t end up feeling like Adora is not taking this date seriously.

Once more she checks in her backpack to make sure she brought the thing she got for Glimmer. Sure enough the small bouquet of fresh violets is still there, next to the trash she never takes out of her backpack.

A minute or so later, Glimmer arrives driving her sparkly, purple scooter.

Adora has never seen Glimmer without the café uniform (the first time they met doesn’t count cause Adora was too busy dealing with weird thoughts to actually pay attention to the clothes Glimmer was wearing).

She looks really cute with a jacket, a crop top, shorts with star-patterned leggings underneath and a pair of black boots that look too big for her feet.

Thankfully, Glimmer is too busy parking to notice Adora stare. The girl removes her helmet and looks at Adora for a fraction of a second before looking away. Adora is unsure if there’s anything wrong with herself, very discreetly she lifts the collar of her shirt and sniffs it just to check if it smells weird.

“Adora! Have you been waiting long?” Glimmer asks, not really paying attention to what Adora is doing and Adora releases a deep sigh with relief.

“I—no! I just got here!”

Glimmer nods and Adora feels the nervous jitters and her hands getting sweaty. Before anything else is said Adora is already shoving the bouquet of violets into Glimmer’s chest. Or at least she’s aiming for the chest but she most likely pushing it against her face.

“Here! For you!!” She winces when the words come out in a volume louder than what she wanted. She saw the flowers and thought of Glimmer, cause it’s the color she has come to associate with the girl and she just thought she needed to bring her something so thank her for the invitation to the date but she’s not sure if Glimmer likes flowers or if this kind of present is totally out of place right now.

Glimmer smiles and a big part of Adora’s nerves disappear. Still she somehow feels like she needs to confess something before it’s too late.

“I... I’ve never been on a date before, so, sorry if I just... I don’t really know what to do.” Hopefully this might make Glimmer not expect too much from the date so she doesn’t end up disappointed by the end of it.

“We don’t have to do anything in particular, but if you’re ok with it I have some things in mind.”

That takes a load off Adora’s shoulders, so genuine relief laces her answer.

“Whatever you have in mind I’m sure it will be great.”

“I was thinking we could go someplace nice and eat some pastries I made for us.”

While listening to Glimmer, Adora allows herself to focus on Glimmer’s ride; a cute purple scooter that fits so much with Glimmer.

“Sounds great.”

Glimmer offers her a helmet as she climbs on the scooter.

“Cool bike,” Adora says to distract herself from how close she needs to be to Glimmer to not fall from the small bike seat. “I used to have one, named Swift Wind but...”

She stops what she’s saying to think carefully the next words she wants to say.

_...but Swift Wind wanted to be free, so I released that majestic beast into the wilderness..._

Yeah, nope, this is an embarrassing story that is better off kept hidden, at least for now, definitely not first date material and unquestionably not while Adora is trying to make a good impression on Glimmer.

Glimmer leans towards her, curious eyes expecting to elaborate.

“It’s a long story, I can tell you about it on our next date,” Adora finally says and that seems to be good enough for Glimmer who smiles so much her cheeks turn her eyes into waning moons.

She starts the bike and they hit the road.

“So, wanna go someplace in particular?” Glimmer asks, turning slightly towards her without taking her eyes from the road.

“Away... Far away.”

“Well, I have _prrrrobably_ enough fuel to get us to another city and back, would that be far enough?”

Glimmer sounds so earnest to humor her that Adora can’t help but laugh. She doesn’t really mind how far they go as long as she can stay by Glimmer’s side. So she says something she expects is an acceptable request.

“Would you take me to see the stars?”

Adora is only slightly confused when Glimmer stops, climbs down from her scooter and removes her helmet. Adora does the same and the breath gets knocked out of her lungs when Glimmer lunges at her and kisses her on the lips. Before Adora can kiss back Glimmer is stepping back.

Then without saying anything she’s back on the scooter speeding away.

Adora scrambles to put her helmet back on and latch onto Glimmer’s back before she falls back from the speeding vehicle. Glimmer makes a U-turn and changes directions a little.

“W-where are we going?”

“To the Whispering Woods, to see the stars.” After that statement they continue traveling in silence, comfortable silence that makes Adora feel at ease.

Looking up, Adora can notice the way the sky changes, the dark grey colors start to meld with brilliant, more vibrant blues.

And she sees one sparkly star and then another one, and one more, until she can no longer count them with her hands. She has never seen so many shiny spots in the sky and she can’t stop the gasp leaving her lips.

Glimmer stops and Adora finally lowers her sight to notice they are no longer in a road, they are in the middle of a clearing and she didn’t even notice when they left the highway.

Glimmer places a cloth in the grass and invites her to sit next to her. Adora sits while keeping her gaze in the sky.

“So, what do you think?”

Faced with the question, Adora lowers her eyes and suddenly Glimmer’s whole appearance seems far more captivating that the endless sea of stars overhead.

Glimmer’s looking up, her eyes catching all those shimmering lights, her pastel pink hair also seems to reflect some of the light, like little sparkles cradled among the wavy locks.

The stars are really gorgeous, spreading through the whole sky filling it till it overflows.  Just looking at it makes her feel enveloped by the radiance.

But that’s nothing compared to the feeling of looking at Glimmer. She would rather spend the rest of the night looking at the way the stars light up her face. The freckles splashed through her skin, the shape of her nose and lips, the slight shade of red darkening her otherwise glowing cheeks.

Glimmer looks at her and when their eyes meet Adora swears she can see constellations in those eyes.

Her heart skips painfully in her chest and she hastily looks up before Glimmer finds a way to decipher her thoughts.

“It’s like a field of stars,” Adora finally says but she knows damn well she doesn’t mean the stars in the skies overhead. She’s still thinking about the freckles in Glimmer’s face and the speckles of light she can see through the girl’s eyes...

She feels Glimmer leaning closer. When she turns, Glimmer is so close to her. Closer than she had ever been and still getting closer and Adora doesn’t want to stop her. She really wants Glimmer to get as close as she can.

But her hands move automatically to grab the girl’s cheeks and Adora’s eyes don’t lose any time scanning Glimmer’s eyes. They are so shiny, and the deep colors swirling in them seem to shake with emotion.

Adora is fascinated by this closeness. She doesn’t recall ever seen a person this up close, it feels strangely intimate, almost like a moment meant to be kept secret.

It’s incredible how much longing she can see on Glimmer’s eyes (unless that’s just her projecting her own wishes into her), she also looks a bit alarmed. Adora did interrupt whatever Glimmer was about to do...

“Let me do it,” she breathes, but she’s not even sure what she means by that.

Her mind is not really sure what’s happening, but her whole body seems to know more than enough. She leans forward and their lips touch. Adora feels goosebumps flare through her skin, along with jolts of some unknown emotion in the pit of her stomach and the back of her neck.

She moves her lips, trying to find an angle to be closer to Glimmer. Her hands clutch Glimmer’s face, she can only hope she isn’t hurting the girl. Her body is trembling so much and she can’t do anything to stop it.

Glimmer’s hand reaches to the hair in her nape and the jolts make her shiver while her heart beats so hard she can feel it pulsing behind her eyes and in the tips of her fingers. Her other hand grasps Adora’s ribs and Adora feels new ripples of shivers through her spine.

It’s too much. Her head feels a bit too floaty and her body is shivering too much even if she feels so hot like her body might combust.

Slowly, almost with regret, Adora breaks the kiss, gasping for breath and her eyes focus on Glimmer’s gaze.

Glimmer’s eyes are sparkling. Adora wants to let Glimmer know how she can see stars in her eyes; stars which are far prettier than the ones in the sky. But it’s a complicated thought and she can’t find the way to put it into words without sounding stupid.

“I had never kissed a girl before, I had no idea it was so... nice,” she whispers lamely and she can notice how Glimmer’s eyes start watering up.

“Glimmer, you’re crying.” The emotional high from the kiss burns and Adora gets completely filled with dread.

“What? No, I’m not!” Glimmer moves back and starts cleaning her tears. She doesn’t look mad, so Adora feels a bit of relief in her chest.

“Sorry, I must have been terrible at kissing, it was my first time kissing someone, so I had no idea if I was doing a good job but I’m still sorry,” Adora says, playing with her hands.

She’s a bit distracted so she doesn’t react immediately when Glimmer takes her by the shoulder, pushes her a bit till they are facing each other, and kisses her.

“You’re so sweet.” Those words coming from Glimmer are unexpected, and make Adora feel nice, but the sheer adoration in Glimmer’s voice is what really sparks overflowing happiness in Adora’s chest.

“Now you’re crying,” Glimmer notes.

Adora doesn’t try to deny it.

“Because the girl I like likes me back,” she explains with a shaky voice looking to the side to clean her tears.

“You only realized this now?” Glimmer sounds so tender. She moves closer to Adora and with so much care dabs the tears with a handkerchief.

“I only just realized this is not a dream.” Adora wants to keep Glimmer’s hand in her cheek, so she places her own hand over Glimmer’s.

Glimmer blushes so much after that. Adora can’t help the way her heart aches, Glimmer is so cute and she looks so pretty under the light from the stars.

It’s almost like something out of Adora’s dreams, but it’s real, and even if it’s dumb, she just wants to make sure she isn’t really dreaming any of this.

Her hand reaches out and encounters soft, puffy locks of pink hair. She can’t stop the sigh leaving her lips.

“Y’know, I used to have long hair, but I cut some time ago,” Glimmer mentions in a whisper.

“Really, why was that?”

“I thought it would look better, and I don't really know about that but it is easier to brush and style, so I like it.”

“I bet you looked really nice, but right now...” _You look stunning._

It’s what Adora wants to say but the words get stuck in her throat. She continues touching Glimmer’s hair and her heart beats so wildly in her chest she’s starting to feel a bit numb. It’s not that Glimmer’s hair is anything extraordinary but the fact that she’s touching Glimmer like this, slowly moving the pads of her fingers through her scalp, it feels intimate even if it’s not.

Adora doesn’t want to stop but her movements freeze when she hears a small squeak coming from Glimmer. She gets immediately worried about having hurt the girl.

“D-do I have something in my hair?” Glimmer asks a bit confused, it doesn’t sound like she’s in pain so Adora resumes the caresses but this time a bit more carefully.

“No, it’s just sparkling, just like you,” she replies without really thinking.

“What?”

Glimmer’s surprised expression breaks Adora out of her daydream and she retrieves her hand. She may have overdone touching Glimmer’s hair and she’s not even sure why she had the sudden impulse to begin with.

“Sorry, I don’t know what I’m saying, after all those kisses I think I might be brain damaged,” she replies looking down.

“Oh, hey! Are you hungry?” Glimmer stands up with a jump like a spring and walks to her scooter.

She doesn’t sound angry or bothered so Adora tries to remain calm. Glimmer offers her a small pancake adorned with glitter and small stars. It looks so cute and made with so much care, is she even supposed to eat something that looks like this?

She holds it carefully and brings it close to her face to appreciate closely every detail.

“So, how do you eat one of these?”

“You eat it like any regular cupcake!” Glimmer replies sitting next to Adora. “Wait, you don’t know how to eat a cupcake?” She adds, most likely noticing the confusion in Adora’s face.

“What? No, of course I know, I know cupcakes, I see them all the time, I just, uhh... never had one to eat.” Is she supposed to just... bite it? Or should she remove the paper at the base first? Are there rules for eating cupcakes?

In a blink, Glimmer leans towards her and bites off the top off the pastry in Adora’s hands.

“That’s how you eat a cupcake,” she says and it’s a miracle she can even be understood talking with her mouth full of cupcake.

Adora doesn’t really know how to react for several seconds. She’s not angry so she tries not to look too threatening, she doesn’t really have a lot of time to think when Glimmer is shoving a cupcake in her face.

“Here! Try it!”

Adora bites it shyly, tentatively, but the second the taste hits her mouth she can’t help but take a bigger bite. The soft pastry almost melts in her tongue.

She can’t stop herself from taking another bite immediately after swallowing the bit in her mouth.

She keeps taking bites and sooner than she expects she has already eaten the cupcake.

She wants to apologize but before she can say anything Glimmer is offering her another cupcake.

There are no questions in her sparkly gaze as she gives Adora the cupcake. Adora doesn’t even have the strength to refuse the offering, a part of her was secretly hoping she could have more cupcakes so she just accepts it without more questioning.

After eating all of the cupcakes and drinking some coffee, they fall into comfortable silence and stare at the sky, or at least Glimmer does. Adora is busy staring at Glimmer and trying her best to not make it too obvious.

The stars can’t really compete with the way Glimmer looks. Adora feels pressure in her chest just by looking at her so she lowers her gaze.

Between them it’s Glimmer's left hand. And Adora can’t stop herself, she grabs the hand. Glimmer looks at her but instead of saying anything she just smiles and Adora can’t stop the small smile from growing in her own lips.

The skin feels soft and warm, but every finger is also firm and strong, there’s glitter under the fingernails. She examines it with care. This is the one that clocked her in the nose in that fateful night all those days ago.

She can’t even see the outline of knuckles in the hand without closing it in a fist. Holding her hand is such a soft feeling, Adora feels like she might melt but on the back of her mind she’s wary to remember just how heavy this same fist felt against her face.

Instead of making her feel afraid, that idea makes her feel thrilled. Knowing that this soft girl is capable of making some damage if she so desired... It is the weirdest thing to be excited about, but Adora can’t help it. She likes Glimmer, every side she has seen of her, and more so for the contrasting sides that coexist inside her.

Time goes by and suddenly Glimmer is standing up, pulling Adora up by the hand that is holding hers.

“Do you want to go for a ride?” She suggests without any preface.

Like a dog being offered a walk, Adora can feel her excitement levels rising but she does her best to sound calm. Without Glimmer sitting next to her Adora starts to notice just has cool the night has gotten. Her hands and arms are already feeling the chill.

“Sure.” Once Glimmer turns around she rubs her cold hands together. The night has gotten pretty cool, and she regrets not bringing a jacket, even if her only viable option was the white one with a big taco sauce stain on the collar.

“Aren’t you cold?”

Adora has really tried to hide it but it seems that Glimmer isn’t easily fooled, so there’s no point in hiding it.

“I, uh, kinda.”

“You didn’t bring a jacket?”

Once again, she regrets that day she tried to prepare quesadillas with Catra and Scorpia, she was foolish enough to wear something white in a kitchen with those two and that giant container of sauce.

“It wasn’t cold when I left my house...?” She replies lamely.

To her surprise, instead of questioning her shit excuse further, Glimmer offers her the denim jacket she is wearing. The sleeves are too short for her arms but at least it helps keep her back warm and cozy.

It also smells nice, even if knowing she’s being enveloped by Glimmer’s soft scent is making her feel dizzy... and also guilty, for getting weird creepy ideas when Glimmer is just trying to help.

“Aren’t you gonna be cold?” She asks, suddenly remembering that Glimmer is providing her with her only jacket.

“I have a flannel shirt, no worries,” Glimmer points out while patting her own shoulder. The pink and blue flannel shirt she’s wearing was probably hiding underneath and, this is stupid —Adora knows it— but seeing Glimmer wearing a flannel makes her heart skip several painful beats.

She just looks so good. Adora wants to take a picture of her to stare at every time she feels angry or sad, because the sight is enough to fill her heart with so much fondness.

Dang, Adora feels so stupid right now, but she can’t help it if Glimmer’s appearance is enough to knock the air out of her lungs.

Glimmer seems to be completely oblivious to Adora’s train of thought. She climbs into her moped and puts her helmet on.

Adora follows her example almost by inertia and presses herself against Glimmer, her arms surrounding the girl’s waist loosely. Without the denim between them she feels kind of closer to her and it is such a nice sensation. And it’s silly but Adora wants this to last forever.

She always loved the feeling of riding her bike, but riding with Glimmer is different, she can’t say if it’s better but she’s definitely enjoying herself a lot.

If she’s with Glimmer it doesn’t matter where they are, she knows she can enjoy her time with her. Speaking of that, she’s not sure where they’re going now...

“Uh, Glimmer? Where are we going?”

Instead of answering, Glimmer pulls over to the side of the road.

“I think I must have lost my way,” she admits softly.

That’s understandable; Adora has been having such a nice time she lost track of the road. It’s nice to think that Glimmer may have gotten lost because she was having a good time too. Hopefully that’s the case.

“Sorry, I was a bit distracted.” Glimmer is already walking away and doing something on her phone. “Lemme just use the GPS.”

“Wait, I think I might know where we are” Adora is hoping she’s wrong but the place is unmistakable. “The arena...?”

Glimmer turns towards her with curiosity.

“Do you know this place?”

Adora feels her blood run cold a bit. Of course she knows this place. Everyone from the Horde does, but she can’t just bring herself to say that to Glimmer.

“You should know it too, if only because you should always avoid coming here,” Adora mutters biting the corner of her lip and pushing Glimmer towards the bike.

“What? Why? What is this place?”

Adora is about to answer when Glimmer tenses, Adora follows her gaze to a metal door with the Horde logo on it.

“The Horde,” Glimmer whimpers and the sound makes Adora’s chest flood with panic.

“Yeah.”

Thankfully, Glimmer starts climbing on her bike without further prodding from Adora.

“I don’t really like the Horde.”

Adora knows. This piece of knowledge is lodged into her chest all the time, pulsing painfully every time she looks at Glimmer.

“Not a lot of people do,” she chooses to reply while sitting behind Glimmer on the bike.

Glimmer starts the bike and hits the road.

“My hate for them is rooted in something a bit more... _personal_ ,” Glimmer pauses and for several seconds the only sound filling the silence is the purring sound of the scooter ripping along the road.

Adora isn’t sure Glimmer is going to continue with the story until Glimmer starts talking again.

“Some years ago, there was an accident...”

Oh no, this isn’t shaping to be a good start. Adora almost wants Glimmer to halt her story and save it for later, this seems like too much but she can’t really bring herself to tell the girl to stop.

“Some Horde students where drunk driving, they crashed against my dad’s car and he...”

Glimmer doesn’t have to complete the sentence, her ragged breaths and low voice are enough confirmation for Adora. Those Horde members took Glimmer’s father from her.

And there’s nothing Adora can do to fix this or help Glimmer but she hugs the girl’s waist trying to be reassuring. It seems to work a bit because Glimmer’s voice stops trembling.

“The Horde students survived and the charges were dismissed... because they were _Horde students_...” She sounds so annoyed after that.

Adora’s chest hurts but she keeps hugging Glimmer trying to ignore the pleasurable feeling in her chest when Glimmer leans back a bit to fit better against Adora’s arms.

“They are always doing whatever they want without facing any consequences, I’m sick of them.” The silence envelops them once more but this time Adora doesn’t feel calm in it.

The illusion breaks. She might be chest to back with Glimmer, hugging her as close as she currently can, but they’re still separated by a distance. A distance created because she’s from the Horde and Glimmer doesn’t know.

She needs to get rid of that. Maybe next time she sees Glimmer might be a good time to come clean, but not right now, not after this whole date that feels like a dream come true.

...Not after Glimmer just confessed to her why she hates the Horde.

The silence weighs heavily on Adora and she endures it as best as she can. There’s nothing she can possibly do and hopefully Glimmer isn’t feeling as uncomfortable as her.

After several minutes in silence Glimmer starts talking again, her voice rumbling softly against Adora’s chest.

“It’s getting pretty late, I bet you’re tired.”

Now that Adora is taking some time to think about it, she _is_ pretty tired, but she can’t really bring herself to come out and say it, so she just nods.

“Want me to give you a ride home?”

And Adora would like so much to say yes, she’s dying to just forget about everything and accept. She wants to stay with Glimmer a bit longer, even with the awkward silence she doesn’t really want this date to end.

But in the end, Adora refuses Glimmer’s offer. She makes a lame excuse of living too far or something. It’s really terrible, Adora isn’t used to telling lies with Catra always there to tell them for her but she tries anyways.

And Glimmer doesn’t look like she believes in that but at least she trusts Adora and doesn’t insist.

It’s a good thing for now. Adora lives in the Horde residential-barracks and even getting close home would be a dead giveaway of her connection to the Horde. Hopefully she doesn’t have to hide that for too long.

They arrive at the coffee shop and after Adora climbs down the scooter, she offers Glimmer’s jacket back and as she reluctantly takes it back they stand still looking at each other. Adora doesn’t want to say goodbye so she doesn’t say a thing.

In the end, Glimmer is the one that says it and that is fine with Adora.

“See ya around,” Glimmer says making a military salute with her hand, it’s endearing and it makes Adora smile.

In that moment, Adora feels this pull in her chest. This _longing_ that drives her to do something she wouldn’t usually try.

Glimmer is in the middle of starting her bike and Adora just throws her arms around the girl and crushes her in a bear-hug. Her blush is so strong she can feel her ears warm up a bit. Glimmer gasps and stays frozen for a long second before surrounding Adora’s waist with her arms, answering the hug with equal strength.

Adora could swear she hears the bones in her back pop.

But she doesn’t care, this is it, the best thing that has ever happened to her. This right here makes today the best day of her life (followed closely by the day she got Swift Wind).

She knows she’s starved for affection but it doesn’t matter if Glimmer finds out. She just wants to have Glimmer’s arms around her back and her warmth close to her.

Slowly she releases Glimmer, the girl looks a bit flushed and her hair is tousled, Adora is too happy to focus too much on that though. That’s probably the reason why she doesn’t see what happens next till several seconds in.

Firm hands settle on her shoulders and in a blink she has Glimmer’s lips on hers.

The contact is far too short but it still manages to leave her in complete disarray. Glimmer bids her goodbye and Adora laughs breathlessly while weakly waving her hand.

She remains standing on her spot for a long time afterwards until she realizes Glimmer has been gone for a while and then she starts her long trek back home.

...A goodbye kiss. Adora could get used to say goodbye like this.

 

* * *

 

The moment Adora walks through the door of her apartment she’s pushed roughly against the wall next to the entrance. Before Adora’s fighting instincts kick in, a voice reveals the identity of her assailant.

“Where have you been? You haven’t been answering your phone, Shadow _Wafer_ is going bonkers!!” It’s Catra’s worried voice. Her hands, pushing against Adora’s shoulders start to sink a bit, effectively pinning Adora against the wall.

“I was...uh... out,” Adora replies weakly. She doesn’t wanna go into details of her date but she’s starting to feel guilty for not letting Catra know what she was going to do at night. Also, it’s almost noon, so she can understand why Catra is a bit freaked out by her absence.

Catra looks at Adora from head to toe and her annoyed expression immediately changes to a smug one.

 “You...are covered in glitter,” after talking, something akin to recognition flashes in Catra’s eyes. She looks up, and her wide eyes don’t really help Adora decipher what Catra is feeling right now.

“Catra...”

_It’s not what you think._

That’s what she wants to say, but it may very well be _exactly_ what Catra thinks.

Adora has no time to dwell on that because a cellphone is ringing. Catra’s. And when Adora checks hers by instinct she notices the battery is dead; no wonder Catra couldn’t contact her anyway.

“It’s for you,” Catra states with annoyance, throwing the device to Adora, who scrambles to catch it in her hands.

At the other end of the line, Shadow Weaver’s voice greets Adora. She sounds so, so sweet, so Adora knows it means trouble. She needs to get everyone out of the house.

After hanging the phone she’s shoving it back to Catra’s hands.

“Shadow Weaver is on her way here,” she states in her military tone that tries to be commanding and intimidating, but for Catra, who knows Adora is a nerd and a dork, the order sounds as neither of those things.

“O-kay...? Is she expecting, like, a royal reception or something?”

“Catra...”

“...Because, seriously, I’m running on like 2 hours of sleep and I don’t think I can do much with the things we got,” she goes on looking at Adora with unamused eyes.

“Catra, I’m serious, you have to leave the house before she gets here!”

Catra doesn’t get the chance to answer because the door of their apartment is opened with so much strength it hits the wall and its hinges groan in complaint.

They turn towards the entrance to see Shadow Weaver standing there. She slowly walks towards them without even closing the door. They can’t really see her face but Adora knows Shadow Weaver is scrutinizing Catra, searching for a reason to judge her or scold her.

After several seconds of silence she points a long black-nailed finger at Catra, the motion makes Catra jump slightly and stand a bit straighter.

“Leave!” Shadow Weaver growls and Catra wants to stand her ground and tell her to shove her orders up her butt, but suddenly Adora is placing a hand on her shoulders and gently guiding her towards the exit.

Catra wants to turn her anger on Adora for being so obedient and tame when it comes to their stupid tutor, but one look at her big pleading eyes makes Catra deflate.

Instead of resisting she walks the rest of the way towards the door.

“I guess I’ll see you later...?” Catra says trying not to sound annoyed, her voice cracking a bit at the end.

Adora nods enthusiastically.

And then, just to spite Shadow Weaver, Catra leans forward and gives Adora a one-arm hug. Adora is taken by surprise but reciprocates the quick hug almost immediately.

Shadow Weaver’s eyes turn into slits and she sends dead glares towards Catra and, honestly, the gesture gives Catra this strong sense of satisfaction she imagines someone would get when winning the lottery.

Shadow Weaver’s annoyance is gold and gives Catra infinite stamina, she could probably punch god herself and run straight into the sun with this kind of energizing vibes Shadow Weaver’s annoyance is feeding her.

Catra breaks the hug and after smiling cheekily at Adora, she walks down the hallway.

Once she’s outside the building, without even trying, she spots Scorpia parking her car and, with no second thought, she walks up to the big red truck.

“Where have you been?” Catra questions dryly instead of greeting Scorpia like a normal person. But Scorpia isn’t fazed, she just blinks while thinking calmly in her answer.

“I was at force captain orientation--”

“That was today?!” Catra interrupts. Scorpia nods slowly, she gets out of the car, if anything just to be closer to Catra while they talk.

“I tried to call you but you didn’t answer your phone,” Scorpia explains calmly. Catra’s exaggerated angry face softens into a slightly annoyed one.

“Yeah, sorry, I was a bit occupied looking for Adora all morning.” At this, Scorpia seems to enter alert mode but Catra makes a dismissive hand gesture. “She’s already back so it doesn’t matter anymore.”

But Scorpia’s alarmed expression remains unaltered.

“Where is she? We need to warn her,” she says taking Catra by the shoulders.

“Warn her?”

Scorpia licks her lips and her eyes dart around nervously before leaning forward to whisper in Catra’s ear. The gesture looks far more suspicious that just talking to her in low voices but Catra says nothing.

“You see, after Force Captain Orientation I heard other Force Captains talk, Adora has been getting in so many fights with other Horde members even Shadow Weaver knows about it by now.”

“I knew that idiot was getting into fights so I’m not honestly surprised that anyone knows by now, since she sucks at hiding it.” Unlike Scorpia, Catra doesn’t bother to reply in whispers.

“And that’s why we need to warn her, by now at least half of the school wants to beat her up.”

“Yeah, that does sound bad but we can’t do anything right now, she’s already talking with Shadow _Waffle_ , and even if they weren’t talking about that I don’t think that old hag would appreciate seeing any of us in the apartment.” Catra recalls bitterly how Shadow Weaver asked her to leave the apartment just some minutes ago.

“O-kay...? Do you want to go somewhere else?” Scorpia asks slowly.

“I’m starving, let’s go grab something to eat.”

“Oh! Oh! I have discount at Bright Moon’s thanks to my reward card, we can get free biscuits with our coffee.” Scorpia pulls the card from her pocket and shows it to Catra.

“Ughhh, just tell me that insufferable girl _Shimmer_ isn’t there right now,” Catra replies looking at Scorpia.

“Careful, Catra, her mom’s a lawyer, don’t want you getting in any messy stuff with the law,” Scorpia says with fond playfulness while carefully placing a lock of Catra’s unruly hair behind her ear.

“But didn’t you say her mom owned the damned coffee shop?”

“Last time I checked, you could own a coffee shop and be a lawyer,” Scorpia replies with humor.

“Whatever... I want a donut,” Catra deadpans putting an end to the conversation.

“As long as we share, sharing makes it special.”

Catra smiles and walks to the passenger’s seat of the truck. Once she’s in, Scorpia doesn’t need any verbal confirmation to know where they’re going.

 

* * *

 

“So, Adora, what have you thought about my proposition?”

Right until this point they have been doing small talk, while sitting on the ratty couches of the living room, with Shadow Weaver asking the habitual questions and Adora answering half-heartedly; so this one question takes her by surprise.

“Your proposition,” Adora repeats slowly, mostly to make time for her brain to catch up and remember what Shadow Weaver is talking about.

“Let’s start from the top, shall we?”

Adora says nothing and Shadow Weaver doesn’t wait for any kind of verbal answer.

“It has come to my attention, Adora, that you’ve been getting involved in unnecessary squabbles,” Shadow Weaver pauses to fold her hands over her lap, “needless to say, if this attitude of yours were to subsist, not even my authority would be enough to halt the consequences of your actions.”

“W-what?”

It’s not like Adora thought no one would know about her fights. She hasn’t been outright trying to hide them either. She just never thought they would be important enough to be noted and addressed like this.

“Do not assume I’ll always be this lenient with you, your behavior proves to me I need to be a little more harsh to keep you on the right path, after all, these altercations have sparked jealousy among your peers, jealousy that I might be giving you too much leisure.”

Everyone around her is always doing what they want with no consequences, so of course she saw no issue with doing for the first time what she actually wanted, fight for the things she deemed fair.

“And Lord Hordak doesn’t appreciate when a distinguished cadet as yourself gets involved in lowly quarrels with other cadets, it’s simply unbecoming, and that won’t do, that’s why I think we should solve this issue before we have to resort to some other _desperate measures._ ”

Those last words make Adora’s blood chill.

Adora knows what _desperate measures_ mean to Shadow Weaver. It’s getting her locked up, isolated, been kept somewhere she can be monitored accordingly or something of the sort. Punished by removing the freedom she has been enjoying if Shadow Weaver were to find something to prove Adora is abusing her liberties.

It’s the closest Shadow Weaver has gotten to threaten her before, so Adora is not used to the cold look of disapproval or the implication that Adora might lose everything if she were to go against Shadow Weavers wishes.

“I know you’re not a bad girl, Adora, even if you’ve been behaving like a selfish child lately I’m not actually angry with you. Transferring you to the Fright Zone would be the soundest solution to these small aggressions of yours,” Shadow Weaver states with excitement that chills Adora’s spine.

It’s like she already decided to keep her on a leash regardless of how Adora may feel, without even giving her a choice.

Still she decides to try her luck; Shadow Weaver isn’t an unreasonable person. Surely Adora can find a way to reel back this whole conversation and gain some ground, right?

“Uh, I’ve been thinking about the transfer but it doesn’t sound like the best choice.” She hasn’t thought about the transfer at all. But leaving her life behind to go somewhere else sounds bad no matter how much she thinks about it.

Shadow Weaver nods and Adora feels a bit of relief in the gesture.

“You can stay if that’s what you wish, Adora, just keep in mind that it might not be the best choice for Catra.”

That sounds like the threat is being channeled towards Catra now and Adora can’t really stand idly while it happens, her battle spirit comes back at least a bit.

“What does Catra has to do with this?” She questions firmly, she hopes she doesn’t sound aggressive or rude, even if she’s feeling anger bubble in her.

“I would say she has everything to do, after all, it was just a matter of time before her incompetence started to rub off on you,” Shadow Weaver says matter-of-factly. The certainty in which she says it is the thing that makes Adora’s blood boil.

“Keep Catra out of this! This isn’t her fault,” she snaps but her voice trembles, because she’s not really angry at Shadow Weaver’s statement, she’s actually sad that after all this time she still sees Catra as a spare, someone to keep around just in case, and mostly because Adora wants her around.

“You may be too young to see the negative influence Catra has on you,” Shadow Weaver states calmly, completely undisturbed by Adora’s words. “If you were to stay, I would have to stop tolerating Catra’s many shortcomings, as for you, I’m afraid I’d have to keep a closer eye on you, if only to be certain that you are not really deviating from the path that has been prepared for you.”

There it is, but this time more clearly. The threat of _desperate measures_ and Adora isn’t really sure if she actually did something wrong or this is just an excuse to keep a closer eye on her.

“If I go with you... what about Catra?”

Shadow Weaver scoffs, it is very clear that she couldn’t care less about Catra and the expression that accompanies her scoff is like a stab in the center of Adora’s chest.

”If Catra wants to come I cannot stop her.” She says that, but she sounds displeased with the notion.

And Adora doesn’t know if Catra would even accept if she was asked to come. But Adora decides she shouldn’t give her the choice; leaving everyone behind sounds bad, but forcing Catra to leave everything behind as well just to endure more of Shadow Weaver’s ill-treatment sounds worse.

Adora knows that if she asked Catra, Catra would seriously consider it, even if in the end she chose to not go, Adora doesn’t wanna put that pressure on her friend.

It’s better like this, anyway, Catra has friends and a life in here. Transferring would never be a smart bet, not even if Adora would be there for her. Adora isn’t worth all the troubles Catra would have to put up with.

“Give me half an hour to pack,” Adora finally says.

“I’ll be waiting for you in the car,” Shadow Weaver replies.

With sharp pain in her chest, Adora throws everything she owns in a couple of suitcases and some other stuff in a box she has around. She’s a bit relieved that no one comes back to the apartment while she’s packing. Before walking out, she leaves a small and very brief note hanging on the fridge for Catra.

Catra deserves much more than this. She deserves to be told all of this in person. But Adora doesn’t want to risk doing something dumb or losing her drive after talking with Catra. She has to do this alone and this might be the only way.

She enters the car carrying a backpack with the last of her stuff and Shadow Weaver starts the car.

“We depart tomorrow at midnight, but before that you might want to stop by the arena, some of your fellow cadets will want a chance to _bid you_ goodbye.”

There’s this edge in Shadow Weaver’s voice, like she knows what cadets do at the arena, like she’s certain it’s not a farewell party. But she’s asking Adora to go anyway, like she’s asking her to fix her mistakes and face a punishment before leaving.

“Before going to the arena, do you think you could give me a lift someplace? I need to let a friend know I’ll be leaving the city,” Adora says, leaning her head against the car window.

Shadow Weaver clutches the steering wheel making the fake leather under her hands crunch.

“I won’t take too long,” Adora assures sending a pleading glance at Shadow Weaver.

The woman doesn’t look back but her grip on the steering wheel softens.

“I’ll come with you to make sure you’re not late for your appointment at the arena then.”

And with that, Shadow Weaver drives away and they leave the apartment behind. Adora wants to cry but she doesn’t do it yet, not until she’s alone and as far as she can currently get from Shadow Weaver.

She could try to run away, she entertains the idea while looking at the grey night sky. But it’s too risky and she cannot stand the idea of putting anyone in danger because of her selfish actions.

So she does nothing. She just stands in the middle of a guest room staring at the starless sky. She already misses the stars.

 

* * *

 

The preparations to leave eat up all of Adora’s time and when she notices it’s already time to go to Bright Moon’s before stopping by the Arena.

Glimmer looks so cute. Adora is reminded of the first time she saw her at the café. Her heart is beating wildly in her chest just like it did on that very day. She looks so giddy and happy, Adora almost wants to turn back and leave but Shadow Weaver’s hand is an uncomfortable weight on her shoulder.

She has to do this, otherwise it’s unfair towards Glimmer. It should be easier to say goodbye to Glimmer because she doesn’t know anything about the Horde or Shadow Weaver so she might not try to stop her like Catra would.

But she still doesn’t know how Glimmer might react. Adora is okay if Glimmer gets angry or hits her or tells her to never come back again or blames her for everything.

Really, it’s fine. It’s Adora’s fault anyways for thinking she could have something with Glimmer and ignoring all the signs that told her that this relationship wasn’t really meant to be.

In her back pocket, a piece of paper with all the things she wants to say to Glimmer makes every step heavy.

She walks up to Glimmer and asks her for a chance to talk.

The café is mostly empty but still, Glimmer seems to pause for several seconds before agreeing to chat. She looks so carefree and happy, all easy smiles and soft laughs. Adora was wrong when she thought she couldn’t feel more guilty about what she’s about to say.

They sit in a table next to a window; it used to be one of Adora’s favorite places to sit, now she’s not really sure about that.

When she starts to talk, she wants Glimmer to know that there are no regrets. She’s honored to meet her, but she’s also stalling, because she’s afraid of the things she actually came to say to Glimmer.

Glimmer tells her how glad she is that Adora started coming to Bright Moon’s Café and Adora has to let her know that it wasn’t a coincidence, she came here with a goal in mind.

“The thing that brought me here was actually you.”

When Adora looks away she notices, Shadow Weaver looking expectantly at her from the entrance of the café. She needs to pick up the pace before she loses what little nerve she has.

Glimmer’s confused expression drives Adora to keep explaining herself.

“You... I... I don’t expect you to remember me...” Adora thinks about that fateful night when Glimmer socked her in the face. “...at least not fondly.”

This only manages to further confuse Glimmer. She looks ready to ask a lot of questions and even if Adora wouldn’t want to hide this from her she is running out of time.

“It’s a long story and I don’t really have a lot of time.”

“Holy crap, Adora, are you dying?”

“Ah, no, no, it's nothing extreme like that, I just... I might be going away for a while,” she explains, from the corner of her eye she sees Shadow Weaver starting to walk towards them. “Listen, Glimmer, I wasn’t really intending to hide this from you but, there was no easy way to say it.”

This is it; Adora has to say this now before Shadow Weaver interrupts them or worse.

“I’m part of the Horde,” she says with the gravity of someone admitting they committed a crime. With how shady the Horde is, she might as well be admitting that.

“W-wait, you’re from Horde Academy?” Glimmer looks like someone emptied a bucket of cold water on her.

The disconcert in her voice hits Adora and suddenly, the apology she had been preparing for this moment vanishes from her mind, leaving her with her nervous fidgeting and dumb words.

“Yeah, sorry,” she replies lamely and the words hurt when they leave her throat. Adora gets to see the hope disappear from Glimmer’s face and switch into different emotions before settling on betrayal. And after some instants the betrayal evolves into anger.

She braces herself for an aggressive reaction from Glimmer, a flipped table... a kick to her chair... maybe another punch to the face...

But when she looks up there’s nothing like that in the girl sitting across from her. Glimmer looks absolutely heartbroken and this somehow is a worst reaction than the one she was expecting.

She stands up and her instincts scream at her to hug Glimmer, to comfort her but she can do nothing. She realizes that the moment Shadow Weaver places a heavy hand on her shoulder.

“Are you ready to go now, Adora?”

“Y-yeah, I’m all set now,” she says and hopefully all the doubt she’s feeling won’t be noticeable on her face.

Shadow Weaver guides her away and Adora easily yields. There’s no reason to stay longer than necessary even if a part of her really wants to stay and see if Glimmer might actually punch her. That would kinda make her feel better; she deserves it, after all.

Before exiting the café Adora waves her hand shyly at Glimmer, but Glimmer is not looking at her.

Maybe everything was a bad idea after all...

“Hopefully this little detour was recreational enough before your appointment at the arena.” Shadow Weaver has this way of making things sound not as bad as they are, now that Adora knows this, Shadow Weaver’s words make her feel on edge.

But in the end, she supposes it’s not important what happens to her...

Adora chances a last glance towards Glimmer through the glass doors, but she hasn’t moved and Adora doesn’t want to think that her shaking shoulders mean that she’s crying.

She’s not ready to say goodbye to the stars forever, but does she really have a choice?

“I’m ready!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know removing the complicated estranged state of Catra’s and Adora’s relationship is potentially removing an important chunk of how their relationship develops in the show but dammit, I just want them to be happy and this is an AU so I felt like it was allowed to live the dream.  
> This took too much time to finish because I had to make sure it paralleled Glimmer and Bow’s side but also added enough to not become a boring retelling. And even if I worked on this on a daily basis it still took a while cause beta-reading this huge thing was hard.  
> Anyway, hit me up if you’re liking this (u can hit me up if you’re not liking it too... I just wanna know if this behemoth of a story is being entertaining or if I should just stop writing this much) and I’ll see ya in the conclusion of this story that will come soon I hope ;D


	3. Growing Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you look at this? Pages upon pages of self-indulgence, grab your popcorn peeps cause this is the dramatic (?) conclusion of the monster I’ve created. This was so hard to beta, you guys. No matter how many times I read it I kept finding mistakes, but hopefully there’s not a lot of those now.  
> This was entirely written before the new season came out but after seeing the new season I may have added some nods towards it, nothing spoilerish it’s mostly small dialogue that changed bit as a result.  
> Hang on to your seats and take a deep breath cause here we go!

“Where’s Adora?”

This is the first time ever Glimmer has seen Catra look so agitated, she’s usually so arrogantly calm and aggravatingly collected... She’s not even wearing her sunglasses, which is a first and it would be somewhat unsettling if Glimmer cared, but she doesn’t... or at least she thinks she doesn’t.

Normally there would be no hesitation in any one of Catra’s firm steps but now... she looks like a wet cat looking for shelter from the rain. She stands out even more by the fact that there is no other customer in the coffee shop.

Bow takes pity on her and approaches her.

“Can we help you?” He asks with hesitance.

Sharp, mismatched eyes focus on Bow and he doesn’t wanna flinch but he does it anyway.

“Adora, she disappeared yesterday, all her things are gone, she won’t answer her phone and this is the only place I haven’t checked where I thought she could be,” Catra enumerates with her fingers before clutching Bow’s shoulders.

“Some weird over dramatic lady came with her yesterday and they left together, we haven’t really seen her since then,” he explains.

“Did she have impossibly long black hair and a stupid face mask?”

Bow’s eyes widen and he nods.

“Oh, shit!”

“Now that you know Adora is not here you can leave and never come back or whatever,” Glimmer interrupts, her usually boisterous voice sounds plain.

Catra doesn’t appreciate the words one bit. Her posture finally acquires a fraction of that trademarked confidence and she turns towards Glimmer with closed fists and renewed fighting spirit.

“What’s your problem, _ _Gladys__?”

Glimmer finally deems Catra’s presence important enough to turn towards her, and when Catra walks up to her ready to fight, Glimmer doesn’t back down. Bow feels like he has to do something before things blow out of proportion.

“She found out Adora is a Horde student,” he explains frantically before Glimmer has the time to let her emotions get the best of her and punch Catra or before Catra does something similar.

That seems to make Catra back down. She looks so unamused, she could fall asleep on the spot.

“Oh, big deal.” The dryness in her voice would put Mermista to shame but it’s that same indifference that finally sets a fuse inside Glimmer’s chest.

“I can’t believe she was from the Horde... and we spent all this time together... and she never deemed it important to let me know?”

Catra is no longer looking at Glimmer, her nails seem to be far more interesting.

“I mean, she was kinda afraid to tell you in case you wouldn’t take it well, and looking at your reaction right now I’d say her fears were totally justified...”

“J-justified? She went away without explaining anything! She just dropped this huge nasty bomb on me, ‘Hey Glimmer, I’m from the Horde, sorry, bye’, tell me exactly how am I supposed to react?” By the end of her sentence she’s almost yelling in Catra’s face and Catra has the __nerve__  of looking bored.

“I’m gonna give this one to you, Adora is incredibly stupid and she handled this poorly, but tell me how acting angry is helping you understand anything?”

“I understand everything perfectly and I don’t need you to explain __anything__  to me.”

It’s blatantly obvious Glimmer is just throwing a childish tantrum, the crossed arms and raised nose are a dead giveaway. And it is a widely known fact that Catra despises dealing with children.

So Catra’s already scarce patience fades away.

“You may be called Glimmer, but you’re not very bright, are you?”

“W-what?”

“Listen, fairy princess, I have things to say and you better shut your mouth and hear me out before you go back to acting like an off brand suburban mom that lost the pie competition because someone copied her secret recipe.”

The phrase is so convoluted Glimmer isn’t even sure she understands it, but that’s not really important.

The thing is, Glimmer actually wants to hear what Catra has to say. She really wants to understand what’s happening, but Catra is being so patronizing and, without Adora around, the part of her that has disliked Catra since the beginning is drowning her brain.

“Oh, and why should I listen to __you__?” Glimmer challenges with fire in her eyes and Catra smiles with a smile that is all pointy teeth and sharp edges and Bow is suddenly very afraid of Glimmer punching the lights out of Catra or Catra biting Glimmer’s face off.

“Because I’m asking you to do it!” Bow interrupts with a yell and his voice cracks so much even Glimmer —who should be used to this by now— looks at him with surprise.

Catra is looking at him as well and all the murderous intent has all but vanished from her eyes.

“I want to know what’s going on with Adora, she’s my friend too and this all happened so fast, so... please?” Bow’s words make Glimmer deflate and now she’s looking at Catra with eyes that __beg__  her to talk.

And for Catra, that kind of expression is like winning a tank for telling Shadow Weaver to shove her dumb edgy face mask up her ass.

“Adora has been coming here almost every day to see you,” Catra explains. “Because she likes you, she’s liked you since the moment you almost broke her stupid nose with a punch.”

“I did __what__?”

“You know, that night months ago when you punched an idiot for messing Madam Razz lawn? That was Adora.”

And Glimmer looks really surprised but Bow is smiling excitedly. Catra has to wonder if he already knew that or if he’s just weirdly happy about this development.

“She never really liked doing Horde stuff, she just did it to fit and go with the flow. But after that punch, damn! It was like Adora had a religious experience.”

Catra takes a seat on a chair and beckons the others to join her. While Bow and Glimmer sit in the boring average way, Catra looks more like a boneless person leaning against a chair.

“She went back to Madam Razz’ place and cleaned everything and then begged me to bring her to Bright Moon’s just so she could look at you at least a couple of minutes every day.

“And that’s not all, she started getting into fights with other Horde members like __one-single-stupid-day-later__ , like actual fist-fights with people that were acting mean to others like Madam Razz .The idiot thought I hadn’t noticed but she got into soooo many stupid fights her knuckles got scraped and she wasn’t very good at making excuses up when she suddenly disappeared for hours only to return with her clothes and hair all messed up.”

That statement makes emotion flash through Glimmer eyes and Catra can swear she sees her eyes widen.

“Adora heard a rumor that some dumb fucks had broken some windows and painted the walls of this silly place and she didn’t waste any time finding the assholes to break their noses.”

At this point Glimmer looks like she had the rug pulled out under her feet and Bow looks mildly surprised.

“And it all started with a punch to the face. It was a great punch, by the way, that was the first time I ever saw Adora get so messed up after a fight,”

“I... I just punched her on the face... __once__ ,” Glimmer has the modesty to look embarrassed.

“That’s a kind of a big deal, I’ve seen Adora get in tons of fights and no one had ever managed to land a punch on her face... ever,”

“Glimmer just took her by surprise,” Bow states shrugging. For all the fights Glimmer gets into, she’s actually a very lousy fighter with heavy hands that happen to pack some punch and light feet that help her move out of hits.

“Yeah, in more ways than one; your fist hit her nose, but your punch shot straight through her heart.”

Bow snorts at Catra’s words.

“Dang, that was cheesy, even for me.”

“How did you even reach her face to punch her?” Catra questions ignoring Bow’s comment.

“She jumped,” Bow replies. The mental image makes Catra laugh so much till there are tears in the corner of her eyes. The weird part is that Glimmer doesn’t react, she just keeps looking at the table as if there was some way to get some answers from the lacquered wood.

“One more thing, Sparky, you think Adora said goodbye to you in a very bad way? I’ve been friends with her since we were in diapers and this is the goodbye note she left me.” Catra slides a small slip of paper through the table till it enters Glimmer’s line of sight.

Slowly, Glimmer lifts and unfolds the paper to find a very brief message in what is, undoubtedly, Adora’s rough calligraphy.

Catra  
I’m going to go away for a while, I’ll charge my phone and text you the deets

Laters, Adora

“She probably hasn’t even charged her phone yet,” Catra states when Glimmer lowers the note. “Makes it almost infuriating how much I care about her, and I’m guessing you feel kind of the same...?”

Instead of answering, Glimmer slides the paper back towards Catra and looks at her with a disbelieving expression. Her mouth moves trying to articulate a question but she has too many of those, so her brain takes one second too many to decide the question she wants to voice now.

“Why are you doing this?” She asks after being silent for a while.

“Because you and Adora are both so dumb, and just watching you __act dumb__  makes my brain cells want to go on a killing spree.” Catra stands up and her expression looks resolute and Bow is not sure if he’s imagining the warmth in her eyes. “Now come on, we don’t really have a lot of time.”

“But we don’t know where Adora is,” Glimmer notes with alarm.

“We don’t, but now that I know who she is with there are a couple of people that might actually know their whereabouts.”

Glimmer expression becomes serious and she quickly runs to the back of the store to retrieve her backpack and, after some seconds of hesitation, she decides to pack the first aid kit she has been bringing to the shop for several weeks now.

“Can you take care of the shop, Bow?”

“Are you kidding? I’m coming with you,” Bow states while quickly removing his apron and placing it in a random table. The gesture makes Glimmer smile.

After closing the empty café they almost sprint to the parking lot where Catra’s car is parked.

The poor thing is falling apart, and it’s made from different parts of different cars, so Glimmer isn’t really sure how this car version of a Frankenstein monster might work, but she gets pulled out of her musings by Bow excitedly patting her on the back.

“Dibs on shotgun!”

“Wait! No fair!”

Catra smiles.

“You’re both so childish,” she says in a tone that, strangely, sounds fond instead of the expected patronizing tone. Her words make Glimmer feel a bit bashful, regardless.

They get into the car and while adjusting their seatbelts Catra moves the rearview mirror and looks at Glimmer on the backseat.

“Look, Sparkle, for all it’s worth it, I’m actuallt sorry...”

Unfortunately, her apology is cut short, cause the moment Catra starts the ignition a song rumbles through the speakers.

__“I mean this, (trust me) I’m not okay~ I’m not okay—Well, I’m not okay!”_ _

Slowly, Bow and Glimmer turn to look at Catra who is just appearing mildly uncomfortable as she surreptitiously turns down the volume of the stereo currently blasting ‘I’m not okay (I promise)’ by My Chemical Romance.

Catra makes a wonderful job of keeping a straight face while driving out of the parking lot and hitting the road.

“Are you ok?”

“Bow!”

“We are not talking about this, right now,” Catra hisses a blush starting to rise on her cheeks.

“It’s ok, Glimmer listens to Carly Rae Jepsen all the time,” Bow offers, like a person would offer a lion a piece of meat to appease them.

“Bow!” This time Glimmer sounds like she’s ready to choke her friend. “You listen to Cascada as if we were still in the 2000’s.”

“Glimmer, are you _ _KIDDING__  me, that information was __CONFIDENTIAL.__ ”

Catra doesn’t even notice she’s laughing until she feels Glimmer and Bow’s eyes on her. She clears her throat and focuses on the road. But the damage has already been done and the idiots already know Catra is not anything like the image of the tough and uncaring __arrogant punk__  she’s been trying to harvest.

They remain in silence for a while until Bow finally can’t hold the words in.

“So, what made you have a change of heart? I’m guessing you’re just not bringing us along because you secretly love us.”

“Who knows?” Catra replies absentmindedly.

“Wait... yOU SECRETLY LOVE US?”

“What? No, I just... what... __What__  makes you say that?”

“You and Glimmer had this weird passive-aggressive thing going on, and now you’re helping us? You could just go get Adora by yourself after finding out she wasn’t with us, but instead you’re taking us with you...”

For a second Catra tenses and then her shoulders slump with a sigh.

“If Adora is really leaving to the Fright Zone I need to give her a reason to stay, and if having you can help with that then I’m willing to try,” she admits with a grumble.

“Oh yeah, of course, and we were on the top of your list,” Glimmer replies with a bit of teasing sarcasm. She expects Catra to reply in kind but when she doesn’t, both Bow and Glimmer get filled with a feeling of dread.

“Are we really her only friends?” Bow asks in a small voice that breaks a bit at the end.

“Adora is trash when it comes to making friends,” Catra states simply and even if her sentence feels incomplete she doesn’t elaborate further.

They can tell that this conversation is distressing her a bit, so Glimmer tries to lighten a bit the mood.

“Is that why you were mean to me?...So I would notice how nice was Adora in comparison to you?” Glimmer asks with an entertained grin.

“Hey! __You__  were mean to __me__  first,” Catra states, pointing fingers and sitting straighter in her seat. “Calling me Gatia when you very clearly knew that wasn’t my name...”

By this point Catra is already comically sulking.

“Technically you were mean first, the first time we met.”

Catra makes a face like she’s trying hard to remember their first encounter.

“Ehhh, up for debate, I wasn’t trying to be mean back then.”

Her voice sounds a tad regretful but they don’t question Catra any further.

 

* * *

 

They stop next to a building with a big old sign that looks washed out and almost unreadable.

“What are we doing here?” Bow asks, eyeing the place suspiciously. It doesn’t look particularly neglected but there’s nothing that gives him any indication of the place’s function.

“Just getting some intel,” Catra replies, already out of the car and walking to the building.

They get out of the car and follow Catra. Behind a couple of heavy glass doors they find themselves in the middle of a gym lounge.

No one bats an eyelash at Catra but Bow and Glimmer get a couple of stares from the jocks walking around the place. Ironic, considering Glimmer and Bow look far more at place in a gym than Catra.

Catra walks to a room in the back of the place where a tough looking girl is using one of the hammer strength machines.

“Hey, Lonnie~!”

“Catra, what do you want?” The girl doesn’t even stop her exercises.

Without beating around the bush, Catra drops the sweet voice and all that remains is her rough raspy tone.

“I want to know where Adora is, I know you know because Shadow __Weiner__  wouldn’t go anywhere with Adora without bragging about it to anyone who can hear, and since she is our stupid tutor and has no friends, it is only logical she would brag about that to __us.__ ”

“Look, I don’t know and I don’t care.”

“Lonnie, you owe me, for that one time with Madam Razz~.”

Something changes in Lonnie’s face and suddenly she stops what she’s doing and looks around before focusing on Catra.

“Fine, fine, I heard Shadow Weaver finally convinced Adora to transfer to another Horde Academy campus, the one in the Fright Zone...”

“I kind of figured that out already, did she say when they were leaving?”

“Ughh, something about taking the midnight train...? But I don’t really know the specs, I honestly tuned the bitch out while she was bragging to us.”

“Thank you, Lonnie, you’re a peach.” Catra grabs Lonnie’s cheek and pinches it for some seconds before having her hand batted by Lonnie.

“You better be careful, Catra, word in the Horde is that not a lot of members are happy with Adora’s actions, so they want to teach her a lesson before she gets away.”

“Adora’s actions?”

“You know, she was getting into dumb fights, and then some Horde members did some property damage at that one café Scorpia loves so much, just to piss her off a bit and Adora wasn’t amused. Rumors say she got in a real messy fight with a bunch of guys and kicked their asses real good.”

“I’ve known for weeks that Adora has been getting into fights, a lot, but what does it matter? She’s leaving this dumpster anyway,” Catra says in a bored tone. ~~~~

“Not before getting her ass handed to her, she won’t, Shadow Weaver isn’t letting her get away with this, she said as much when talking to us,” Lonnie says gravely.

This makes Catra tense and even when Bow and Glimmer are looking from a distance they can notice the change those words make in her.

“So... she’s probably going to be in the arena, right?”

Lonnie shrugs.

“If I were you I would avoid the place, don’t wanna risk getting caught up in Adora’s mess,” Lonnie replies grabbing the handles of the machine she’s using and restarting her exercises.

“Sweet dumb, Lonnie, you act as if I had a choice, but you see, Adora is my mess, if you mess with her you’re messing with me too.” Catra pets Lonnie in the head and turns around.

She has walked a couple of steps when Lonnie stops her.

“Wait, Catra, you’re getting your ass kicked.” For the first time in the conversation Lonnie actually sounds worried, for all Catra knows she might actually care. But Catra doesn’t tease her for showing vulnerability even if under normal circumstances that’s what she would have done.

“Tell someone who cares,” she replies dryly.

With that, Catra leaves the room without waiting for Glimmer or Bow to catch up to her.

“I’m going to get Adora, are you coming? Or are you gonna let Adora get her ass handed to her for sticking her neck out for you and your precious Bright Moon?” Catra hisses under her breath while looking pointedly at Glimmer.

Glimmer walks up to Catra and blocks her way; if Catra wasn’t such a proud person she would have flinched a little.

“The arena, right? I know that place.”

Catra can’t even pretend she’s not surprised by that. But what Glimmer says next surprises her even more.

“I’m going, you guys don’t need to come,” Glimmer states. And even when she’s shorter than Catra she manages to look intimidating. Not that Catra would ever admit that out loud, though.

“You’re gonna get your ass kicked!” Catra replies with a sardonic smile. But it just makes Glimmer cold smile grow. Honestly, Catra is getting all this newfound respect for this girl.

She can be really tough when she wants to.

“You said it yourself, I’m not very bright.” The way she says it is chilling. With the conviction of a person who knows they’re fighting a losing fight but they refuse to go down without giving hell to everyone standing in their way.

And honestly that makes Catra’s respect for Glimmer get a multiplier. But Catra is not about to get herself beaten in her own game. The crown of queen bitch is something she’s not about to relinquish.

“Yeah, you’re not, that’s why you need Arrow-boy and me to come with you, to save your ass from unnecessary beating.”

“If this fight is as big as that girl Lonnie said, we are all getting our ass kicked together, anyways.” Glimmer shrugs and Catra starts shaking her head and pulling out her cellphone from her pocket.

“That’s why I’m calling the cavalry, these stupid Horde losers are gonna regret ever messing with one of us.”

Very quickly, Catra dials a number, Bow and Glimmer are slightly surprised when the person on the other end of the line picks up right away. Catra immediately looks irritated.

“Hey—... No! I am not calling you tha--! Because I’m not alone!... Hey, listen! I found out who are the Horde members messing with Bright Moon’s Coffee... yeah, I’ll send you my location... Sure, I’ll meet you here, thanks!”

Catra hangs the phone pressing the screen with far more strength than necessary and then looks at Glimmer and Bow. For all the anger she displayed on the phone she looks more chill and collected than before.

“Okay, can you, like, stay put for 5 minutes? I need to get something from the corner store,” she states with no trace of any stress in her voice. Bow and Glimmer don’t even know what the person in the phone might have said to her but it might have been good for Catra to look at least more relaxed now.

 

* * *

 

A car arrives minutes afterwards; a big, imposing, marron-colored pickup truck. The driver’s seat door opens and a big and-just-as imposing woman steps out. She’s wearing shades and her big frame gives the impression that she could bench-press her car without sweating.

Catra walks up to her and somehow all the intimidating air in the woman evaporates in seconds.

The woman’s serious expression melts into a fond one even if Catra’s expression seems as unimpressed and aloof.

“Thank you for coming, Scorpia,” she says formally, as if she was talking to a fellow soldier and not a close friend, but suddenly Scorpia removes her shades and scoops Catra in her arms and, instead of the angry reaction Bow and Glimmer expect for Catra, she just smiles and tries to hug back.

But all of that disappears the moment Catra notices they have a crowd.

“Put me down already, we have things to do today,” she stutters and her voice cracks a bit with embarrassment.

“Right, right, sorry,” Scorpia doesn’t look apologetic at all. If anything, she looks coy as she smiles very brightly and hunches a bit.

“Scorpia, meet Glimmer and...”

Without letting Catra finish, Scorpia looks at Bow with wide eyes.

“Oh my claws, I can’t believe it, Bow?”

Bow seems to get that same recognition in her eyes.

“Holy crop top! It __is__  you, Scorpia!”

“Do you guys, like, knew each other?” Catra asks slowly while alternating looks between the boy and Scorpia.

“Chocolate with whipped cream, caramel and chocolate chips sprinkled on top!” Bow says with a huge smile and thumbs up.

“Oh right, the café,” Catra talks to herself fully aware that she’s being ignored.

“Unbelievable! You always remember my order,” Scorpia gushes with surprise.

“Yes, because you go there all the time,” Catra interjects, crossing her arms and sighing with annoyance as she continues to be ignored.

But Glimmer can see through Catra’s facade. Her gestures look too over-the-top and dramatic to be real and the small smile forming in the corner of her lips can’t be because she’s mad.

This kind of exaggerated annoyance is something she can relate to when Bow does something dumb yet loveable like bursting into song with Seahawk in the middle of the street.

“Scorpia,” Catra says with sharp voice.

Scorpia’s attention immediately focuses on Catra.

“We are a little short on time,” she says softly, there is fondness in her voice but she also sounds like she’s in a hurry.

“Oh, yes! Right!” Scorpia straightens up and jumps into the driver’s seat of the car. “Hop in!”

“Dibs on shot—“

“Don’t even think about it,” Catra hisses and Bow slowly deflates.

Glimmer and Bow climb on the backseats of the truck. The car is very spacious and clean; nothing compared to Catra’s car.

“I don’t know why it still surprises me that you’re always befriending everyone,” Catra notes while putting on her seatbelt.

Scorpia looks at her and smiles fondly while starting the car and driving towards the exit of the parking lot.

Glimmer doesn’t say anything, but she can totally understand Catra. With a friend like Bow this kind of feeling becomes relatable.

“Scorpia...?” While talking Catra looks around the inside of the truck.

Scorpia hums.

“Where’s Entrapta?”

“Shadow Weaver ordered her yesterday to clean the mess she left in her lab, since she hadn’t done it before she had to do it today or get in trouble with Hordak, she told me she’d take care of that and see us there,” Scorpia explains.

“Didn’t she program Emily to clean her messes?”

“Emily might be cool, Catra, but she’s just a Roomba, cut her some slack.”

Catra has no time to come up with a sassy answer to that cause from outside the truck they hear someone yell.

 “Hey, wait up!!”

“Were we expecting company?” Scorpia asks slowing down the car till they have stopped completely.

“Not really,” Catra replies checking the car door mirror to see someone running towards them.

“We’re coming to help,” Kyle shouts breathless, next to him are Lonnie and Rogelio.

“Alrighty, hop in!” Scorpia instructs putting her head out of the window to look at them.

“If Adora is getting her ass kicked at least we are gonna get our asses kicked with her,” Lonnie states throwing her duffel bag in the back of the pickup while Rogelio helps Kyle jump in.

“Famous last words, Lonnie,” Catra taunts.

Now that everyone is settled, Scorpia drives out of the parking lot.

“Shut up, Catra, not everyone believes it’s cool and edgy to pretend you have no feelings,” Lonnie rebuffs rolling her eyes and getting comfortable in the trunk of the truck.

“Bite me, Lonnie.” Catra glares at Lonnie’s reflection in the rearview mirror.

“Not in front of your girlfriend.”

“Ughhhh.”

Scorpia giggles sweetly and sends a sideway glance to Catra before returning her eyes to the road.

“She called me your girlfriend,” she repeats in a very giddy voice when Catra focuses her glare on her.

“How many times do you have to hear it before you stop doing that? We __ARE__  girlfriends, Scorpia, for fucks sake!”

The outburst does nothing to dampen Scorpia’s mood, she just giggles a bit more before focusing on the highway.

“By the way, here!” Catra sounds grumpy as she offers something to Scorpia. She can’t really see what it is so she just extends her huge palm towards Catra and the girl places something in it.

“They didn’t have the ugly mixed flavor ones that taste like rubber bands so I got you the strawberry flavor, which is a flavor I actually enjoy so we can share.”

Scorpia closes her fingers around the object, the plastic package crinkling while she squishes it gently.

“You got me strawberry jellybeans?” She asks chancing a glance to the plastic package in her hand.

Scorpia looks at Catra and then at the road ahead without really knowing what to say and then she just talks in a very soft voice.

“They always taste better when we share.”

Catra can’t help but smile at this.

Bow and Glimmer look at each other and smile, they haven’t said a lot for a while but they don’t really need words to tell each other just how cute they find the scene they are witnessing.

Silence settles in the car. Catra places her feet in the dashboard and closes her eyes; Scorpia seems to be content to be driving in silence. Bow doesn’t intend to break the tranquility but he needs to ask something.

“Hey, I have a question.”

“If the question has to do with me I’m not answering,” Catra replies almost immediately in a lazy voice.

“If you want to ask about some medical condition I can’t answer either,” Scorpia adds.

“It’s not that, I just, why do you call other people from the horde __‘members’__? You guys got a membership program or something?”

Silence falls on the truck once again but it’s not because of the question.

“We’ll answer later, we’re here,” Catra’s voice sobers up and she sounds immediately serious.

“Before we get in, we need a plan,” Bow stage whispers while his eyes widen at the imposing sight of the arena.

“Plans never work, we just punch everyone that gets in the way and then leave,” Glimmer replies while cracking her knuckles.

“I still would want some kind of reassurance that we know what we’re doing,” Bow insists.

“All right!” Catra’s voice sounds firmer and impersonal all of a sudden. “Unless you guys are some dumb weirdos with a thing for punishments, like Adora, I say we get Adora and then get the fuck away, there’s no need to fight them all, we can totally play it smart and win.”

Everyone agrees, and even if Glimmer nods, Bow isn’t sure if she’s actually planning on following the simple plan.

 

* * *

 

Adora has never liked the arena.

It’s mostly that she doesn’t like how the Horde settles disagreements, but the arena is a big part of that and it is certainly the part Adora dislikes the most.

The arena is an abandoned warehouse without ceiling, it has concrete bleachers and in the center there’s a big area bordered by a chain-link fence, it’s main purpose is to be like a cage for fighting, and it’s never the fair kind of fighting.

From the outside, Adora can already see the Horde members gathered in the place and the sight sends chills running down her spine.

“Fix things and then we can go to the Fright Zone and start over again with a clean slate free of failures,” Shadow Weaver tells Adora as the girl unfastens her seat-belt.

She nods and exits the car, she really doesn’t feel like acknowledging Shadow Weaver’s words with a verbal answer.

A couple of Horde guys walk up to Adora and surround her, not quite threatening her, but Adora knows that if she puts resistance she might start the fight earlier than anticipated, so she walks slowly towards the entrance of the arena with the Horde soldiers escorting her.

“Can we get this over quickly? I have to catch a train at midnight,” she tells them almost as a greeting but they don’t even appear to be looking at her... Hard to tell while they’re wearing the Horde helmet.

Shadow Weaver waits till Adora has entered the arena to leave the place, most likely going to the train station to wait for Adora.

Everyone inside the arena is wearing the Horde uniform, the formal one they hardly use nowadays, complete with the helmet with a dark visor that obscures the face. Adora isn’t really sure but she’s willing to bet there are far more people here than the ones she actually beat up.

She is escorted to the center of the arena where she gets surrounded by more Horde soldiers. Adora has no plan here, she was planning on enduring the punishment and then leaving, but things aren’t looking as easy now.

She takes her time to look around and sees more and more of the same Horde members, all in their uniforms, it’s inevitable to note this is the first time she sees this many students dressed like this outside of school.

She might know some of this people, but she can’t be sure with everyone dressed the same way and wearing helmets.

This isn’t going to be fun.

 

* * *

 

“Let’s hurry, it has most likely begun,” Kyle calls up to them while walking ahead. He doesn’t look very confident though, he keeps trembling like a leaf in the wind.

While Scorpia and Catra park the car the rest of the party moves towards the arena. Kyle, Lonnie and Rogelio get past the guards without any complication, but once Glimmer and Bow try to walk by...

 “Where do __you__  think you are going?”

...a couple of generic Horde soldiers stop them in their tracks.

They don’t really have time to react to that because someone behind them is pulling the soldiers roughly by their shoulders.

“You are letting them in,” Lonnie says dryly. She is the one holding the soldiers tightly. Her grip looks pretty strong and painful, judging by how the fabric of their uniforms gets crinkled under her fingers and also the general tense posture from the soldiers.

Slowly, Lonnie releases her hold and unnerving silence falls over them all. Bow is standing behind Glimmer, his hands on her shoulders, and Glimmer is just holding his hands, they are both ready to bolt in case something happens.

“Actually, I’m not, __cadet__ ,” one of Horde student replies and even if their face is not visible the smugness is just palpable. Lonnie wouldn’t usually jump straight to violence, but they are short on time and this random person already gave Lonnie enough reasons to earn a beating.

In seconds Lonnie has thrown a punch to one soldier’s gut and the other one receives an elbow to the stomach.

“We’ll clean up things here,” Lonnie declares as more Horde students start to gather outside.

Glimmer doesn’t need to be told anything else before she’s running towards the inside of the Arena with Bow in tow.

From outside, the place looks like an abandoned warehouse but the inside really resembles an actual coliseum, the center is enclosed by a fence and there are several Horde students sitting in the bleachers around it.

Glimmer ignores it as she runs to the center, her feet light.

At the other side of a chain-link fence it’s not hard to spot Adora, she’s surrounded by at least a dozen of Horde students all dressed in uniforms and wearing helmets with visors that obscure their eyes.

They all push her down and kick her around and Adora doesn’t put any resistance. Glimmer cannot see anything but Adora, barely standing, taking a beating with resignation.

“Adora!”

And Adora reacts but only slightly, as if she was imagining stuff.

“Fight!”

“...Glimmer?” Adora looks around and up as if Glimmer’s face were to materialize among the greyness of the sky overhead. She stands a bit straighter and a punch in the shoulder sends her tumbling against the fence. Glimmer runs to that part of the fence and this close she can see Adora’s beaten up face.

“Why aren’t you fighting back?” Glimmer yells, her hands clutching the chain-link fence with enough strength to make the metal crunch.

“This is the only way to fix things,” Adora replies while the horde students drag Adora away, even if she wanted to fight back lots of hands hold her back. ~~~~

“Ughhh, you’re so stupid,” Glimmer mutters under her breath.

Next to her, Glimmer hears Catra groan at Adora’s words. She has no idea when she got in here, but it doesn’t matter, she probably agrees with Glimmer’s annoyance.

They can’t do anything but watch helplessly as Adora lets herself be dragged away and thrown into the center of the arena once again. Glimmer punches the fence a couple of times before turning away and running.

“You know, I had a feeling she was a bit more stubborn than this,” Catra tells Bow while watching Glimmer retreat.

But she’s proven wrong the moment Glimmer turns around and comes back running. Just before reaching the fence, she jumps and climbs the rest of the fence.

It’s amazing how someone that small can jump so high but Catra has little time to think about that. She has to do something too, because Glimmer is already on the other side of the fence, running towards Adora to help her and Catra simply can’t be left behind.

If Glimmer and Adora are getting their asses kicked she cannot be blamed for just watching and doing nothing.

She grabs the fence and before even trying to climb she notices the metal is sticky with unknown substances and cleans her hand against her shirt.

“Yeah, no, I’m not doing that,” she mutters to herself.

This wins her a raised brow and an amused expression from Bow.

“What? It’s not like I can’t do it but I would rather __not__  do it,” she says while ignoring the smug expression Bow is sending her way. “Scorpia!”

Scorpia, who is never that far from Catra, stands firm and she doesn’t need more than a head movement from Catra to run in some unknown direction. Bow doesn’t have time to bother about that because before he can even formulate the question, Catra is already pushing him back and a big red truck is running over the chain-link fence successfully making them an opening.

“You guys are nuts,” Bow stage whispers, his voice cracking in the process.

“Don’t worry, my insurance covers that,” Scorpia assures, sticking her head out from the window of the truck.

Bow doesn’t even have the words to express his disbelief. At first, he doesn’t think Scorpia understands anything about safety and priorities... but as he sees the woman unfasten her seatbelt Bow reconsiders. Maybe Scorpia understands safety... but her priorities are definitely jumbled.

 

* * *

 

Glimmer is very quick on her feet and even if most Horde people are taller than her, she’s still really good at throwing punches and her smaller height means she can easily hit everyone under the chin where the uniform helmet doesn’t cover.

Adora is dumbfounded, watching Glimmer fight is an overwhelming experience, but she has to force her mind to focus on more pressing matters than how good Glimmer looks.

“Hold on!” Adora says both to Glimmer and to herself. “Glimmer, what are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I came for you, we all did,” Glimmer answers off-handedly without looking back at Adora choosing to focus on the soldiers she’s fighting.

“Why?”

The way in which Adora’s voice trembles a bit, makes Glimmer finally focus her gaze on Adora.

“Because we’re tired of you pushing us away, you always do that.” Without even trying to, Glimmer’s voice comes out soft and shaky.

“No, I don’t,” Adora replies immediately.

“Yes, you do,” Glimmer whines, her exasperation quickly growing. “Every time I tried to get close to you, you would put a dumb distance between us!” As she talks she walks towards Adora, and even if her voice sounds soft, Adora can’t help but notice the general aura of murder Glimmer’s whole posture emanates.

“I wasn’t trying to do that, I was just trying to give you space,” Adora rebuts, rising her voice with indignation.

Glimmer clenches her fists and, turning to the side, punches the next Horde soldier she sees with so much strength the poor person falls back and doesn’t stand up. 

“Maybe I didn’t want that space!”

“I had no way of knowing that,” Adora confesses in a quiet voice and suddenly Glimmer’s whole stance relaxes, Adora can almost see the anger evaporate.

“I’m sorry.”

Adora is starstruck. Glimmer has this way of being fierce and vulnerable and making it look easy. It’s amazing. She walks the rest of the distance towards Glimmer now that she’s sure Glimmer won’t just punch her.

And Glimmer looks at her and there is this spark in her eyes, like she’s looking at the stars but just like the night of their date, there are no stars on the arena’s sky.

If she could, Adora would love to stay under the receiving end of those eyes that make her feel important and special. With how much of her attention is focused on Glimmer she almost doesn’t notice a soldier sneaking up to attack Glimmer.

“Watch out!”

Glimmer reacts to Adora’s voice and manages to avoid the hit aiming for her head, without a second’s hesitation she counter-attacks but her punch misses its mark and ends up hitting in the visor of the soldier’s helmet cracking it with a punch.

Adora winces. The visors are made to resist punishment, so doing that much damage to one can’t be good on the knuckles. As if on cue, Glimmer shakes her hand a bit, like trying to shake off the pain she’s most likely feeling.

The soldier isn’t hurt but most likely dumbfounded, so Glimmer takes the second’s hesitation from her opponent to hit the soldier in the gut with enough strength to wind them and put them on their knees.

Meantime, Adora is more than impressed with Glimmer’s battle instincts and the strength behind every punch. It’s almost like the day she met Glimmer, except she isn’t the one of the receiving end of the strength Glimmer throws away with every hit.

It’s far better to be a witness to Glimmer’s fighting spirit than being her opponent, but the years in martial arts training in her can’t overlook the improvements that could be done to Glimmer’s fighting style if she had a teacher.

“Glimmer!”

Once again, Glimmer reacts in an instant after hearing Adora calling her name.

“You don’t want to hit with your closed fist,” Adora taps her own knuckles as she speaks. “With or without helmets, their faces are most likely going to do more damage to your knuckles than the other way around, use the heel of your hand, or your elbows,” Adora instructs, then, taking advantage of a soldier nearby she hits them in the face with the heel of her hand and proceeds to elbow them on the chest making them fall back.

Glimmer’s eyes glow with excitement and like a child dying to try out some new toy, she runs to the first soldier she sees and hits them with the heel of the hand. The soldier falls backwards and remains on the floor.

Glimmer looks at the unconscious soldier and then at her mostly undamaged hand. She cheers and throws herself at Adora. Adora manages to remain on her feet even if her knees buckle dangerously when Glimmer gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh my stars, Adora! Where have you been my whole life?” She asks with glee. It’s a rhetoric question, so she starts walking away without really expecting an answer. But since Adora’s brain seems to have gone on vacations, she feels the need to offer an answer and there’s no way to filter the words that leave her mouth.

“Looking for you,” Adora answers without missing a beat and Glimmer almost trips even if she’s just standing around.

Adora would think it’s endearing, but surrounded by the chaotic fight that is unleashing there’s no time to swoon.

Looking at her friends giving their all and fighting for her makes her want to fight back too.

It’s so silly how the moment she decides to actually fight back, something happens.

She doesn’t see anything but feels the hit on her head, firm and strong, and the air leaves her lungs in a grunt. She quickly loses control of her body and before completely blacking out her dumb brain can only hope Glimmer is okay.

 

* * *

 

Taking advantage of the distraction, a Horde soldier sneaks up on them. Glimmer sees everything unfold slowly and yet it happens too fast for her to even say anything.

The Horde soldier hits Adora in the back of the head and Glimmer can see the way Adora looses consciousness in an instant just to start collapsing to the floor.

Her more aggressive side demands to beat the lights out of the Horde asshole, but everything else tells her to catch Adora before she hits the ground. That’s the impulse she decides to follow without a second’s hesitation.

“Adora!!”

No response.

Before Glimmer can punch the asshole soldier, Scorpia lifts the unfortunate person and throws them away. Some of the remaining soldiers back down after that display of unrestrained strength.

Glimmer has no time to be surprised at that cause her worry for Adora’s well-being sends every other thought out of her mind.

“Adora, please!” Glimmer begs and can’t help the way her voice trembles with the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

She’s starting to get desperate when a person to her side starts looking for vital signs.

The back of Adora’s head isn’t bleeding but it might bruise later. Despite everything, Adora seems to be still breathing but she’s not opening her eyes.

“She’s just unconscious. I’d give her a couple of minutes to wake up before we start to panic.” Entrapta states. Glimmer isn’t really aware of the way she clutches Adora closer to her while eyeing Entrapta suspiciously. But the words do make her feel slightly at ease.

“I didn’t introduce you before, Glimmer this is Entrapta.” Catra gestures towards Entrapta, the girl takes some seconds to realize she’s being addressed before jolting in place and waving energetically towards Glimmer. “Entrapta, Glimmer.”

Glimmer offers a forced smile and it seems to be enough for Entrapta.

“Now Entrapta,” Catra turns towards her friend. “Can you make sure she’s not brain-damaged or some shit?” She requests pointing at unconscious Adora in Glimmer’s arms.

“I guess I can do something about that, yeah,” Entrapta muses with a hand under her chin. “I might have to improvise with the tools, though,” she adds while holding up a wide arrange of small screwdrivers between her fingers.

“You are not using those on her, she’s not a machine,” Glimmer huffs.

“While I would usually be all about using the proper tool for the job, I don’t really have a lot to work with here,” Entrapta replies.

“I have a first-aid kit in my backpack,” Glimmer offers, speaking almost too quickly. But Entrapta doesn’t seem fazed by the outburst.

“That might... that might be better, yeah.”

 

* * *

 

“She seems to be recovering consciousness…” Entrapta’s voice sounds distant, even if Adora can swear the purple mass of hair in front of her belongs to the scientist.

She can’t really look around much, but there’s someone else next to Entrapta, Adora’s brain immediately recognizes the short pink locks of puffy hair.

“I know you,” she mutters groggily, not even aware of how dumb her words sound.

“Adora!”

Adora feels the arm surrounding her shoulders embrace her a bit closer to what appears to be another’s warm body.

“Do you know who I am?” Glimmer asks softly, almost a whisper against her forehead.

Yes… she knows who this girl in front of her is. Even when her head hurts and her vision is blurry and her mind feels so slow and foggy, she knows. She can’t ever stop thinking about her even if she tried. But she can’t say any of that, her brain is far too sluggish and the thought is too elaborate to be put into words.

But her senses are enough for Adora to at least reply the question; the name leaving her lips in a content sigh.

“Glimmer...”

And Glimmer’s concerned frown melts into an expression of pure relief, tears shine in the corner of her eyes and an even brighter smile blooms in her lips.

“Adora, you’re ok,” she breathes with joy while gently hugging Adora against her chest.

The tender moment is cut short when Adora’s brain finally reacts, she shouldn’t be wasting time here, she needs to go.

She slowly stands up from Glimmer’s arms and almost falls back but Glimmer grabs her elbows and helps her stay up.

“What time is it? I have to catch the midnight train!” Adora mentions in a tired drawl.

“I’ll go look for a clock or some other time telling device,” Entrapta mentions while walking away but nobody seems to pay her any mind.

“What?! Are you seriously going to leave to the Fright Zone anyways?” Lonnie screams somewhere to the side, Adora is too dizzy to turn around to see her but she knows she’s somewhere to her right.

“Is that what you want?” Catra questions with desperation in her voice, she looks like something’s about to snap inside of her.

Adora doesn’t answer, she even looks down to avoid Catra’s betrayed gaze.

Even after everything that has happened the only way to solve things in Adora’s mind is to go away. If anything, after all the things her friends have done for her it is only imperative to leave them behind even more.

She starts walking away, slowly, she can’t make her body walk faster but she tries anyway. A hand grabs her arm firmly and halts her completely.

“Adora, what do you want?” Glimmer asks, her voice is quiet but she doesn’t look calm. The way she grasps Adora’s arms firmness and desperation betrays any trace of tranquility in her.

“I have to go,” Adora insists without looking back, suddenly something heavy latches onto her back. Glimmer is surrounding her with her arms, holding her so she doesn’t leave but also keeping her uptight. There’s no way for Adora to get herself free from the strong grip, not without falling flat on her face.

“I didn’t ask that, what do __you__  want?” Glimmer repeats, her grip on Adora’s torso tightening yet maintaining enough gentleness to not hurt her.

“I want to go on more dates with you,” Adora replies immediately without thinking; her voice breathless and rushed.

Even if she can’t see Glimmer’s face she can feel the way the girl’s hands tremble, it makes her take her time and think about her next words a bit more carefully.

“I want to eat cupcakes together and talk about annoying best friends and fighting side by side and... there so much things I haven’t done with you, I want to try them...” Suddenly her voice breaks and she starts to cry. The tears don’t to stop no matter how much she tries to. “I don’t want to leave,” she adds in a soft voice, in the silence of the arena her voice echoes clearly.

She doesn’t want to say goodbye to the stars, not yet.

“Ok, then stay, and we will do all of those things,” Glimmer promises as she turns Adora around.

Adora has her face hidden behind her hands, but Glimmer doesn’t need to see her face to know she’s crying.

“But I’m trouble, the Horde might target you directly if I stay,” Adora says while Glimmer takes the girl’s hands between hers.

“Not if I target them first,” Glimmer assures taking out a paper napkin from her pocket to clean Adora’s face, between the dirt and the tears, Glimmer has to use the Bright Moon’s café napkin completely.

Adora looks like a confused puppy and Glimmer is pretty sure it has little to do with the recent hit she got to the head. There are a lot of ways for the Horde to target Glimmer and friends, but not a lot of actual options for Glimmer to do the same.

“I know I never mentioned it before but... Mom’s a lawyer,” Glimmer mentions looking to the side.

“I knew that!” Catra yells in the background feeling weirdly proud of not being the last person to know about something.

“I’ve been waiting for the moment to fight the Horde,” Glimmer continues, her attention focused on Adora completely. “I always thought it would be a fist fight but after fighting all those Horde assholes I think my hands would appreciate a more, uh, __diplomatic__ approach.”

“Oh my gosh, Glimmer being diplomatic for the sake of someone? This is actually love,” Bow stage whispers from the side.

There’s this moment when Adora feels like she’s looking at the stars, Glimmer is shining with conviction, offering to do all this things, for her, and Adora has no idea how to answer.

She doesn’t have to because seconds later, Entrapta is breaking the moment.

“It’s 12:16...” It takes Entrapta several seconds to notice everyone is now looking at her. “What? She asked about the time before.”

Everyone looks back to Adora just in time to see the color drain from her face.

“I lost the train, it’s official, I can’t go back to the horde now,” she whispers loudly enough to be heard by everyone.

“It’s ok, you’re with us now,” Glimmer assures hugging her from the front now, Adora doesn’t want to slump but her legs are giving up on her now.

Adora’s eyes shine brightly with happy tears but one look at Catra seems to sober her up a bit.

“But if I stay Shadow Weaver said she would keep Catra on a leash,” Adora replies with trembling voice.

“Do you honestly think she wasn’t doing that __before__?” Catra replies with more than a bit of misdirected anger. “Haven’t you realized by now? That old hag will do as she pleases, no matter what we do.”

Adora knows deep down that Catra’s words are true, but still, looking around and seeing everyone nod knowingly at Catra’s words make Adora feel dread in her gut.

“I’m so dumb,” Adora mutters.

“Agreed,” Glimmer blurts immediately afterwards.

Catra and Glimmer exchange looks and there’s this flash of mutual understanding and exasperation towards Adora.

Adora would take time to feel disappointed in herself if it weren’t because watching Catra and Glimmer interact without bickering is something unprecedented enough to distract her self-loathing mind.

“Wait, you’re getting along now?” She has to ask cause she has no idea when the relationship changed, and she has to know how it happened.

“We didn’t get along before cause you never formally introduced us,” Catra retorts.

“Yeah, why did you think we wouldn’t get along?”

“I don’t know, you used to argue all the time we were in the café,” Adora explains bashfully.

“That was just a misunderstanding,” Glimmer assures with confidence that seems too exaggerated to be genuine.

“Totally, we’re best buds now,” Catra adds with a similar voice.

“Really? What’s her name?” Adora asks Catra dryly.

“Adora, how dare you imply I wouldn’t know my new best friend’s name,” Catra says, pressing a hand to her chest in the same way a theater kid would when reenacting some kind of Shakespearian death. “I love my best friend, __Sora from Kingdom Hearts__.”

Adora is not amused by the joke and her squinted eyes focus on Glimmer.

Glimmer smiles and throws an arm around Catra’s shoulder.

“And I love my new best friend, uh, __Sonic the Hedgehog__.”

Catra’s dramatic expression sours up a bit while Bow starts laughing so hard he’s wheezing in seconds.

Adora may be terrible at catching social cues and sarcasm but she’s pretty sure this whole thing is what you would call a failed joke.

“Whatever, let’s just… get in the car and leave this place,” Catra orders in a dry voice while walking towards Scorpia’s truck.

Nobody questions Catra and they all just walk behind her in the same direction.

Once Adora tries to take her first step, her knees buckle and she falls down. Glimmer is next to her in a heartbeat, halting her fall and ready to carry her into her arms. Adora refuses a bit with weak retorts, but nobody is looking at them and there’s really no need to reject the help she clearly needs and Glimmer is readily offering.

She also can’t do anything to avoid Glimmer’s grasp as she effortlessly heists her in her arms. It’s not a long walk to the car, but still Glimmer doesn’t seem inconvenienced or slowed down in the slightest by Adora’s weight.

Adora feels a bit starstruck by Glimmer so she doesn’t say anything for precious moments.

There are a lot of things Adora wants to say, but once they’re sitting in the car, Glimmer smiles sheepishly, takes out her phone and starts typing furiously.

Adora doesn’t want to interrupt, so she thinks about her phone instead... she hasn’t charged it yet...

“So, where to?” Scorpia asks as she starts the car. Everyone is already seated with their seat-belts on, so Adora does the same.

“To Mystacor Hospital, my aunt is head doctor there, she can give us a hand with this,” Glimmer instructs without taking her eyes off her phone screen.

She looks busy and Adora doesn’t want to interrupt, so she waits, but she must be bad at hiding how impatient she feels cause suddenly Glimmer’s intense gaze is on her and she asks.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’ve been wanting to apologize, for what I did,” Adora says, her voice still a bit croaky and dry. “And also, for everything that happened afterwards...”

“Everything that happened?”

“The Horde members that thrashed the café... they might have gone after Bright Moon because of me, because they knew I liked going there and they wanted to irk me,” Adora explains with a shaky voice.

“Adora, that kind of thing had happened before, it probably would have happened regardless of you going there,” Glimmer assures with a very soft voice that makes Adora feel warm inside.

“And even if this had happened because the Horde was after you, it wouldn’t be your fault either, it would still be the Horde’s fault,” Bow adds in a firm tone that sounds resolute and sure.

A smile reaches Adora’s face and simultaneously a frown grows in Glimmer’s.

“Wait, is that why you did __this__?”

__Running away, fighting_ _ __against_ _ __the horde_ _ __in the arena_ _ __, not saying goodbye..._ _

“I thought I could stop the Horde by myself,” Adora replies apologetic.

“Did you really?” Catra calls out from the front seat.

“No, I just thought that sounded cool,” Adora snorts and Catra feels this urge to choke her. “But I really wanted to keep you all away from trouble and thought I just had to face the consequences of my actions.”

“Your actions? What do you mean by that?” Glimmer asks, she tries not to sound indignant but she still sounds like that anyway.

“I feel in love with you for one,” Adora breathes scrunching her eyes closed as if confessing that was painful. “A Horde member falling in love with a rebel girl that hated the Horde,” she elaborates in a low raspy voice.

“Do you believe that was a mistake?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but I knew someone was going to end up hurt, but I still kept going back to the café almost everyday... I knew it was a terrible idea but I didn’t fight it...”

“Do you regret it?”

“No.”

The firmness in Adora’s scratchy voice makes Glimmer smile a bit.

“If you thought it was such a terrible idea, then why did you try at all?” Glimmer isn’t sure if she wants to hear the answer but she asks anyway.

Adora looks at Glimmer; the car is moving and the streetlights that come and go make Glimmer shine intermittently. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes to fill herself with courage, if she doesn’t say it now she might not have another chance to say it.

“I fell in love with the stars, but I couldn’t reach them,  so I looked for ways to grow wings so I could get closer to them... I figured it is what you should do when you love the stars.”

Glimmer’s jaw drops and she blinks several times. Adora is not sure if the surprised expression is a good sign or if Glimmer is looking for ways to tell Adora off.

“W-when I say __the stars__  I mean you, in case, y’know, that part wasn’t clear...” Adora trails off, no longer able to hold Glimmer’s gaze. How she managed to keep a straight face before is a mystery.

Glimmer laughs a bit but it’s mostly a nervous laugh to hide the embarrassment in her, her blush is so strong her cheeks start to feel numb.

There is no way for her to anticipate the kind of answer she was going to get from Adora, but this is definitely so unexpected she has to take several seconds to process her answer.

“Did...did you hit your head  _ _that__  hard?” She asks her voice trembling by the nervous laugh still going on while looking away. Something like this is the kind of sappy comments that would make Glimmer kiss Adora, HARD. But right now they have an audience and that sorts of public display of attention make Glimmer feel a bit shy.

“I probably have a contusion, yeah—But I DIDN’T think those words with the contusion! I wrote them beforehand, I can show you.”

Adora moves to retrieve something from her back pocket but Glimmer stops her with a hand on her arm.

“No, it’s ok.”

__I believe you__  is implicit on that exchange, so Adora lets out a sigh of relief. Glimmer seems to be collecting her thoughts so Adora waits, or tries to, she is far too skittish to look patient.

With a deep breath and a sigh, Glimmer starts talking.

“Before I met you, the stars in my life where my Vespa and my cellphone and maybe actual stars, but then you appeared, and you were like a sun, closer than any other star, but also kinda out of reach... I’ve always loved the stars, makes sense that I fell in love with one.”

“Did you... did you write that down too?” Adora asks quietly.

“I didn’t,” Glimmer replies looking away.

“Can you write it down?” Adora requests, leaning closer towards Glimmer. “I wanna remember it in case I suffer memory loss after this,” she admits honestly, placing a shy hand over one of Glimmer’s.

 

* * *

 

They arrive to the hospital. Bow’s blood runs cold when he notices the imposing figures of Angella and Castaspella, Glimmer’s mom and aunt respectively, standing by the entrance. Both look annoyed by the other’s presence but trying hard to look professional in public.

“What is your mom doing here, Glimmer?” Bow whispers.

“I asked her to come,” Glimmer replies with a sigh. It’s clear she’s not happy about the fact.

“She’s gonna ground you so hard you’ll be living underground.” Bow’s voice cracks with the worry.

“I know, I know, but...” Glimmer pauses to look at Adora. “There are worse things than that.” She sounds more like she’s trying to convince herself.

Adora wants to say something, she’s not really sure what, but she wants to make sure Glimmer knows she’s not alone, or something of the sort, but she misses her chance to speak.

“Wait here, Adora.”

Adora heeds Glimmer’s words and remains in the car, but the rest of the crew climb down. Nobody is quite sure what to do, so they stand around awkwardly, until Glimmer walks away and starts talking with her mom and aunt.

The awkwardness grows at least tenfold cause now they are forced to stand around while Glimmer gets yelled at by her mom and her aunt shakes her head reprovingly, but fortunately, it doesn’t last long.

Soon, Glimmer is walking back to them and wordlessly helps Adora climb down from the car.

They all want to ask what’s happening, but neither wants to draw attention towards themselves.

So they stay quiet and look helplessly as Adora is seated into a wheelchair and pushed inside the fancy glass hospital doors.

“Wait!”

Everyone freezes after Adora says what everyone wanted to say before.

“No, please, I don’t want to say goodbye,” Adora pleads softly, her gaze bouncing between everyone.

“This isn’t a goodbye, this is a see you later,” Glimmer assures, taking Adora’s hands and squeezing them between hers.

But Adora doesn’t seem convinced, she still looks like a puppy being abandoned on the side of the road.

“We still have to go on dates and cook pastries together,” Glimmer promises, she looks a bit nervous and bashful, but it’s most likely due to having everyone’s eyes on them. “You’re not leaving me yet.”

“Can you come a bit closer?” Adora requests. Glimmer does it without thinking and the moment her eyes are level with Adora’s, she feels lips against hers. Adora is kissing her and before she can even kiss back Adora is already withdrawing.

“I... didn’t want to go too long without a kiss,” Adora’s voice is quiet and very soft, she looks embarrassed but the small smile in her lips lets Glimmer know the other girl doesn’t regret the kiss.

“Do it like you mean it,” Glimmer mutters and before Adora can ask questions she feels Glimmer’s lips pushing against hers.

The kiss is longer and deeper and it tugs something inside their chests. They break the kiss, slowly, and their eyes meet. This close they can both see the other perfectly, just each other and nothing else.

The moment has to break eventually. Reality gives them a wake up call when an ambulance resounds louder than any other noise, reminding them they’re outside a hospital, surrounded by a lot of people.

Glimmer stands up, flustered, but a smile shining brightly in her face.

“Anyway, I’ll see you later.”

Adora nods and a nurse standing nearby takes that as a cue to start wheeling Adora inside the hospital.

Glimmer walks towards Catra and Co., they have been very on edge since they arrived to the hospital but Glimmer can’t appreciate more their patience.

“Aunt Casta says they will put Adora on observation, they have to make sure the hit to the head won’t cause anything big, you all can stay in a private waiting room till Adora is better, I made sure the Horde can’t touch Adora or any of you while you are in here,” Glimmer pauses to take a deep breath. She has been speaking a bit too quickly, but no one seems to be bothered by that. “But if you can’t stay you can call to the hospital and come back later, I made sure Adora is in the bestest hands in the city,” Glimmer gives Catra a fancy business card with phone numbers in sparkly fonts. “Also if any of you need medical attention I made sure your expenses are covered.”

“What about you?” Catra asks with a rough voice, but without any of the bite. She sounds more tired than angry.

“I’d like to stay but...” Glimmer doesn’t complete the sentence, she just looks sideways at where her mother is standing.

Catra doesn’t need any words, she immediately knows what’s happening.

“Don’t worry about us, I’ll keep tabs on Adora for you,” Catra says in a way that sounds more like an order than a favor.

“I don’t know if it would be safe for you to go back to your own homes, I know the Horde isn’t really the kind to forgive and forget what they consider betrayal,” Glimmer states, rubbing her exposed arms with her hands. “I wish I could do something to help you with that.”

“Don’t worry about that, Sparkle, they can all stay at my parents’ place, we got enough space and rooms, and if the Horde wants to mess with us they would have to deal with my parents, we all know they wouldn’t want that,” Scorpia assures throwing her arms over Catra and Lonnie’s shoulders.

“AND, __if__  they happened to break that first line of defenses, we have Emily armed and ready,” Entrapta assures and she looks like she genuinely believes that a roomba will be a good counter to Horde soldiers.

“You just strapped a knife on top of her, didn’t you?” Catra asks in a deadpan voice. The most amusing part is that Catra doesn’t look surprised, it’s almost as she already expected this.

“Not one, but several knives,” Entrapta explains making grandiose gestures with her hands. She’s clearly being serious and the rest of her friends don’t mind the antics anyway.

“Let’s all hope we don’t have to resort to make Emily fight,” Scorpia adds with a worried frown, it’s hard to tell if she is being serious too, but when Glimmer makes eye contact with her she gets the most genuine smile in return.

So Glimmer isn’t too worried, Adora’s friends are good people and she doesn’t mind leaving Adora in their hands.

Glimmer and Bow part ways with the others then. Glimmer is calmer knowing Adora will be okay, but she can’t help but feel anxious about the future, about everything she managed to get herself into.

But she can’t wait to see Adora again.

 

* * *

 

 

“Why did you do this? What were you thinking?” Angela asks once she’s alone at home with her daughter.

Glimmer doesn’t immediately answer, so Angela worries for an instant, and when Glimmer does answer, the words she says don’t make a lot of sense.

“It’s what you do when you love the stars,” Glimmer replies softly, eyes focused on the window even if there are no visible stars in the sky overhead.

There’s a pause when the words sink. No one says a thing and it’s almost as if every noise disappears and Glimmer’s heartbeat becomes incredibly loud against the silence.

“Did you hit your head as well?” The woman asks carefully.

“I can’t believe I just said that,” Glimmer mutters realizing she said something real embarrassing out loud... to her mom... while she’s getting scolded.

“We can get you to the hospital too,” Angela offers.

“No mom, I’m fine!”

 

* * *

 

 

Afterwards a week goes by till Glimmer talks to Adora again. It’s just a phone call but it makes Glimmer’s heart flutter in her chest.

“Please come back soon, I have to teach you fighting techniques.”

Glimmer can’t see Adora’s face as she speaks, but she imagines Adora with the biggest smile on her face.

“Fighting techniques, really? Is that your idea of a date?” Glimmer teases, but the loving smile in her face is making her cheeks hurt.

It’s been a couple of days since the incident and Glimmer still hasn’t seen Adora.

“I m-mean, you’ve got some great potential... so I’d like to, you know...” Adora takes a deep breath and suddenly her quiet voice sounds a bit more confident. “I’d really like to see you thrive as a fighter.”

Adora’s voice over the phone sounds so enthusiastic it brings tears to Glimmer’s eyes. She can’t wait to see Adora soon either.

Surprisingly, Glimmer’s mom isn’t as angry about Glimmer’s idea to bring the fight back to the Horde as the young woman expected, but she still gets very, very grounded, and the punishment lasts for longer than Glimmer would have liked. She is not allowed to see Adora for the duration of the punishment, and as the last time, her mom takes away her scooter and her phone.

But, this time, Glimmer doesn’t care about her phone and scooter as she did before. She’s only bothered by the fact that she can’t see Adora.

Eventually, Angela lifts the punishment and Glimmer is both happy and anxious.

It’s been months since the incident, she has been talking to Adora on the phone but this is the longest time she has spent without seeing the girl since they know each other. Glimmer is not sure what to do or think, or how to act.

But the moment she sees Adora waiting for her next to her bike, outside of the café, Glimmer’s eyes start to water. Her mind completely forgets why she was nervous in the first place and her legs start to run towards Adora, and before she can notice, Glimmer is already tackling her with a hug.

Adora manages to stay uptight but only cause the bike helps her find some footing to avoid crashing against the ground. The words she wants to say are immediately breathed against her neck by Glimmer.

“I missed you so much.”

And that same sentiment is mirrored in Adora but she can’t find her voice to say it back. So Adora doesn’t answer, she just hugs Glimmer tighter.

“You’ll never believe what happened,” and then, without waiting for an answer, Glimmer takes a piece of paper out of her pocket and shows it to Adora, it looks like a chart with timetables, maybe a schedule.“My mom finally agreed to change my shifts in the Coffee Shop!”

“Well, I’m glad she didn’t do that before, or it would have been harder for me to meet you.”

Glimmer smiles fondly and punches Adora’s arm softly. But Adora still feigns a grimace.

“Should we celebrate?” Glimmer suggests while shaking the piece of paper.

“Not even a day has passed since the punishment was lifted and you already wanna go on dates?” Adora asks, her hands holding Glimmer’s face so she can look at her as much as she wants.

“I missed spending time alone together with you,” Glimmer says as she tries to look away with Adora’s hands holding her face in place.

“I didn’t dress for a date,” Adora jokes, lifting an eyebrow.

“You look good no matter what you’re wearing,” Glimmer replies in a sweet, honest voice that makes Adora blush and release Glimmer from her grip.

Glimmer pats the space behind her on the bike and Adora takes a seat without hesitation.

“We should really put a name to your scooter,” Adora mutters to herself, but Glimmer is close enough to hear.

“What do you think of Shooting Star?” Glimmer blurts. She would usually feel embarrassed to admit that she has thought about that since she heard Adora had a bike named “Swift Wind”, but Adora has this way of soothing her worries...

“I love it, it’s like a star that grew wings,” Adora replies hugging Glimmer from behind.

“So... like you?” Glimmer asks playfully elbowing Adora with a smile.

“Hey, I’m not the one with wing tattoos on her back,” Adora counters.

“Only cause you gave me the idea, Miss I-grow-wings-to-reach-the-stars,” Glimmer retorts with a bit of shyness. With Bow’s help and as a way to anchor her conviction to help Adora, Glimmer got something symbolic tattooed on her back.

“Has your mom noticed yet?”

“No and if you tell her I’ll have to punch that pretty face of yours,” This time the confidence is back in Glimmer’s voice as she turns around in the bike seat to look at Adora.

Adora covers her nose with a hand, but she can’t cover the big teasing smile growing in her lips.

Glimmer takes that hand between hers and now that Adora’s face is uncovered she strikes...

It happens too quickly, but Adora can still see every single movement happen in slow motion.

Glimmer’s eyes focus on her eyes and slide down to look at her lips. Warm soft hand holds her by the nape and small puff of air escapes Glimmer’s lips, and then, those plump lips are against Adora’s cold ones.

“Adora?” In that moment Adora notices Glimmer ended the kiss and asked her something, but she cannot recall what Glimmer just said; her mind is still struggling to catch up with everything that is happening.

“What was the question?”

Glimmer giggles, probably cause she can see just how starstruck Adora is.

“Are you ready?” Glimmer repeats, firmly, holding Adora’s hand and without any pretense of letting go.

“Yeah!”

And this time she is...she knows she’s ready the moment she’s sure she loves the stars.

 

* * *

 

“Hey Glimmer...”

“What is it, Bow?”

“Remember when I told ya punching a Horde student in the face was a bad idea?”

“Yep!”

“I take it all back... Best idea ever!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand that’s a wrap, thanks everybody for sticking with me till the end!  
> Was that too pretentious? ...Not pretentious enough? Please be sure to let me know your thoughts and all that, either here or at kiose.tumblr.com (or captainglitch @ twitter if that’s more your jam).  
> If you read this behemoth of a story hit me up, so I can personally thank ya for bearing with me all the way to the end (along with the wait for the last chap, hopefully it was worth the wait).  
> Don’t know if I’ll write more for this AU (maybe some short stuff? I have nothing planned ATM tho... If ya wanna write something about this particular AU feel free to do so and do share a link!! )  
> I have a couple more of canon-universe she-ra stuff in mind, so, hopefully I can get any of those finished someday!  
> Again thank ya guys so much! See ya around!!


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